Called Operation Homecoming, the Air Force shuttled the former POWs first to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, then to military hospitals before finally returning home to American soil.

The Philippine and US air forces held joint bomber air patrols and air intercept training over the West Philippine Sea on ...

arrived over the weekend at Clark air base, a part of the former U.S. Air Force base, north of Manila, with two French-made Rafale fighter jets and air force cargo and transport aircraft.

U.S. troops arrive at Clark Air Base in the Philippines, April 2003. Since 2002, the United States has sent hundreds of soldiers to the southern Philippines to support and train the Philippine army.