Posted by Jhun Nonato on Thursday, October 13, 2011,
Another prized find among the clutter of old photos was a picture taken inside the Quonset house in the Plaza Militar Compound. Most of you probably have never heard of Plaza Militar. It does not exist anymore. Plaza Militar used to occupy an entire block of valuable real estate in the heart of Ermita, Manila. This block is bounded at the north by Pedro Gil St., at the south by J Quintos Sr., at the east by A Mabini, and at the west by M H Del Pilar St.. The block is presently the site of the... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Saturday, October 8, 2011,
The picture of the old house in Pandacan shows an open wide window at the front. It also has similarly sized windows at the other sides.
At night time, the window spaces were closed with sliding wooden panels with capiz shell panes. These window panels were very popular at that time.
There were no screens yet, so we all slept under mosquito nets. I had not heard of the term "dengue" during those times.
What we used to hear were those scare stories of vampires hovering by the windows at night. ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Tuesday, October 4, 2011,
The picture of the old house in Pandacan, Manila, which we occupied in the early 50's, existed only in my mind for over half a century, until a few months ago.
During a visit to my Mom at her newly renovated house, I noticed a clutter of photos, among other things, on a side table in her room. The house was still in disarray as they had not yet finished putting everything in order.
I patiently went over the photos and was delighted to be taken on a journey back in time. What particularly grabb... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Saturday, February 26, 2011,
About a year ago, I created a website intended exclusively for use by members of Class 65 of Cavite National High School.
I saw the need for a website wherein class members, a lot of whom are already residing in other parts of the world, can communicate and share their thoughts and ideas through the site's blog and and forum, as well as upload their own photos and videos for other class members to see.
I thought it was a good way to complement and supplement the official class website, which ho... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Friday, January 14, 2011,
I've come across "krill oil" in some of my quick scans of articles during my researches on the Web about health topics. For a time, I just ignored it as I knew nothing about it. I thought it was a type of cooking oil.
Finally, during one of my browses, I found an article on krill oil fish oil evaluation. The article caught my attention and interest because fish oil is one of my sources of healthy and essential Omega-3 fatty acids. And the article is saying that krill oil is better than fish oi...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Sunday, January 9, 2011,
I woke up early last January 4 to prepare for my jogging routine. Before hitting the road, I checked on my celfone. There was a forwarded message in my inbox sent late the night before by Alvin Urbi, from Dante Salud.
The message relayed both good and bad news. The bad news was that the mother of one of Cavite National High School's Class 65 graduates passed away. The good news was that one of our classmates, Tony Vitan, whom we have not seen and heard from for the last 35 years, was in town f... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Wednesday, October 27, 2010,
I was totally dumbfounded as I watched the flawless precision of this drill unit. Thought I'd share it with you...I know you'll enjoy it too. 
This also reminds me of my Boy Scout days during my elementary school years. We practiced our silent drill routine every afternoon after our classes.
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Monday, October 25, 2010,
Throughout our stay at the Cavite Naval Base, three places stood out as hot fishing spots. These were the particular sites where we never fail to produce substantial catch whenever we fish. The first hot fishing spot was just by the seawall behind our immediate neighbor's quarters, where the water was relatively deeper. Whenever it was high tide, small schools of different species of Spinefoot, Rabbitfish, and Surgeonfish, would be roving along the sea wall and conglomerate at this spot. We ju... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Tuesday, October 5, 2010,
 Cavite National High School Main Building
of 65 (CNHS ‘65), is one of the most active classes of the school.
Reunions are held regularly wherein class members and their spouses
who now reside abroad, would fly in to celebrate with their
Philippine-based batch mates and their spouses. Early on, reunions were
held at an interval of 10 years. The very first one was fittingly held at the school grounds, at the Montano Gymnasium. Almost always,
the itin... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Wednesday, September 29, 2010,
Corregidor is the largest of four island fortresses, which include
Caballo, El Fraille, and La Monja, guarding the entrance to Manila
Bay. These islands are situated between the provinces of Bataan to
the west, and the province of Cavite to the east. It was in this
island fortress of Corregidor that the last remaining starving,
dying, and out of ammunition, American and Filipino forces, under the
command of General Jonathan Wainwright, holed out after the fall of
Bat... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Sunday, September 19, 2010,
What is a Quonset hut anyway? The younger generations, including my
nephews who lived for years at Naval Station Sangley when it was already
a Philippine Navy base, have no idea what a Quonset hut is.
Recently, I asked my nephews, who are now with the Navy, to snap photos
of Quonset huts at Naval Base Cavite and the Naval Station in Zambales.
Their first reaction was, "what is it?" They don't know what it is, and they
found none.
Quonset huts are
pre-fabricated elongated portable st... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Monday, March 15, 2010,
 Did the RPS Rajah Soliman sink in 1962 or in 1964? We owe it to history to clarify this question once and for all. I was with my brother Ket and some of his friends about a week ago, and they told me that they have been reading my memoirs. On our way home, my brother pointed out that there was a mistake in the date of the sinking. Typhoon Dading [international codename: Winnie], which sunk the ship, hit the country in 1964, he averred. Wh... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Thursday, March 11, 2010,
RPS Rajah Soliman (D-66), the flagship of the Philippine Navy at the time of its sinking during the height of a super-typhoon, was the former USS Bowers (DE-637), named after Ensign Robert Keith Bowers, a naval aviator who died in the Pearl Harbor attack. Launched and christened on October 31, 1943, it was commissioned into active service on January 27, 1944. It saw action in the Pacific naval battles where it was heavily damaged by a direct hit by a kamikaze pilot. It was repaired and conver... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Sunday, February 14, 2010,
In Cavite City during our time, Quonset huts were found not only at the Navy Base, but also at the Cavite National high School. Just at the back of our main building, there was a row of several quonset huts [like the photo below] which served as additional classrooms. I could say with certainty that those were donations by the US Navy from the nearby Sangley Naval Station. Last year, I asked my nephew, a MAC officer at the Navy Base Hospital, to shoot photos of quonset hut bui... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Friday, January 22, 2010,
The recent Christmas Season brought back some good old memories of the 9 day novena dawn masses. We would wake up very early in the morning to attend the 4 am masses. The Navy Band would go around the Base at around 3:30 AM playing Christmas tunes, so waking up early was not really a problem with us. I remember we would really dress up well for these masses. It was not unusual to see us attend mass in formal coat Christmas Dawn Mass Nowadays, we have the option to attend th... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Friday, January 8, 2010,
The dearth of Christmas lights and decorations this past Yuletide Season was so glaring that one could hardly feel the spirit of Christmas in the air. In previous years, decorations were being set up as early as September. But this year, houses that decorated were few and far apart. In our street of about 30 houses, there were only, at most, 6 that did. The same was true with other streets and villages. The long lines at the cashiers' and gift wrapping booths at the malls were nonexistent. Ch... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Thursday, October 22, 2009,
This question is another way of asking "how do typhoons form?" Typhoons and its cousins, the hurricanes, are the same violent storms, differing only in name and site of occurrence. But do you know that there are over 50 times more inquiries on how hurricanes form? Typhoons and hurricanes form in the same manner. I had a recent post in my Web Talk Korner blog about the question of how hurricanes form. You can save me the time explaining it again here by just hopping over to the site and looking ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Sunday, October 4, 2009,
I was feeling extremely alright when I went to the church to attend the 12:30 pm mass. I rose from my seat like the rest of the parishioners as the celebration began. I was still fine, but as the choir started singing "Glory To God," I began to feel dizzy as if I was going to pass out. I tried to fight it and held on to the window grills to support myself. Fear began to envelop me as I thought of the possibilities...."Am I having a stroke or a heart attack?......Is my blood sugar high?" I sta... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Tuesday, September 22, 2009,
Further south of Plaza Militar was the Manila Naval Station. Bounded on the north by Quirino Avenue, on the south by Pablo Ocampo Sr. Street (formerly Vito Cruz Street), on the west by Roxas Blvd, and on the east by Mabini Street, it was right across the Philippine Navy Headquarters, separated only by Roxas Blvd (then known as Dewey Blvd). See Maps for the exact location. MNS had already a golf driving range at that time. It was here that Dad, when he was the Commanding Officer of the station,... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Tuesday, September 22, 2009,
Plaza Militar occupied a piece of valuable real estate property situated in the heart of Ermita, Manila. It is bounded on the north by Pedro Gil (formerly Herran Street), at the south by Jose Quintos Sr. Street, on the west by Mabini Street, and on the east by M.H. del Pilar Street. (See Maps). When it was given up by the Navy, the complex became the site of Pistang Pilipino. It was the one-stop-shop to go to, especially for tourists, looking for Philippine made handicraft products. I also use... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Monday, August 10, 2009,
When Dad came back from the US on a mission to bring to the country two naval ships (mine sweepers) given to the Philippine Navy by the US government, he brought home a lovely platinum blond cocker spaniel, whose name, unfortunately, I couldn’t recall anymore. We already had a golden blond male, named Butch, when we were still in Pandacan. Cocker Spaniel
The dogs were such fun to play with. Play was so energetic that I became careless and accidentally got nicked in one o... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Tuesday, August 4, 2009,
What a way to learn how to ride a bike! Under drizzling rain with a bicycle with busted tires, no bike helmet, no one to teach or assist....just plain, pure guts. I was 8 years old then and we were residing at Plaza Militar. Kids love to frolic under the rain and in those streets slightly inundated by rainwater. That’s what my brothers, sisters, playmates, and I usually did during heavy downpours, oblivious of the intermittent thunder and lightning, when we were not in school. Household eld... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Monday, July 27, 2009,
Two days ago, I read an article in Yahoo Buzz that the solar eclipse which occurred last July 22 was an annular one, meaning that the sun was not totally covered by the moon, thereby leaving a ring of light, called "annulus" along the sun's perimeter. But according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website, it was a total solar eclipse, meaning the sun was fully covered at the time of greatest eclipse.The total eclipse was visible in Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Sunday, July 19, 2009,
I write this post to clarify what seems to be a confusion relative to the identity of the Cavite Naval Base vis-à-vis that of Sangley Naval Station. I had come across a lot of websites and blogs often interchanging the two. After the American Expeditionary Force under Commodore George Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet in the Battle of Manila Bay, they took over the facilities at Sangley Point, most recently referred to as US Naval Station Sangley, prior to its turnover to the Philippine gover... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jhun Nonato on Tuesday, June 30, 2009,
About
20 years later, I revisited the Cavite Naval Base with my three young kids to show
them where I grew up and spent my childhood and teen years. Upon
entering the base, we turned right to where our Quonset hut used to be.
My heart sunk when I saw that the Quonset hut homes that used to line
the sea wall off Bacoor Bay, especially our quarters, were no longer there, now replaced by
concrete structures. What used to be the Officer’s Country was now a
housing area for enlisted personnel a... Continue reading ...
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About Me
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navy brat, baby boomer, health and fitness buff, sports enthusiast, bathroom singer
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