US Taiwan Defense Command: Linkou Annex Menu

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Linkou Annex Menu

I received a note from Ted Walker, who was an ETR2 in J-6 at TDC from April 1968 to July 1969. He talked about how much he enjoyed his tour and how he's still in touch with several swabbies from back in the day. He also enjoyed working with the Army techs and communicating via TTY with the folks on Grass Mountain.

He mentioned that HSA had a rugby squad and several guys from TDC, including Ted, played for the team. Are those bumper stickers right when they say it takes leather balls to play rugby? Just wondering.

Anyway, he sent along some scans of a few pages from the Linkou Club food menu. Sorta makes your mouth water, doesn't it? Of course I'm talking about the prices. The food was pretty good too!

1 comments:

George said...: I seem to clearly remember 1966 sitting in the Linkou Annex (when it was on Chung Shan N. Rd) enjoying a floor show and sharing a pizza and beer with several buddies. That was some great pizza at a reasonable price. Look at those prices - what memories!; 14 August, 2009 13:05

Overview

The United States Taiwan Defense Command was a sub-unified command which reported directly to the Commander-in-Chief Pacific (CINCPAC). The command was composed of personnel from all branches of the U.S. armed forces and had its headquarters in Taipei.

Operational since November 1, 1955, USTDC was a planning headquarters for the defense of Taiwan and the Pescadores. In the event of hostilities, the Commander, USTDC, would have assumed an operational role and coordinated with the Government of the Republic of China in the defense of Taiwan and the Pescadores. In the event of such a contingency, three existing service commanders would have reported to the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command commander. The 327th Air Division commander would be the air component commander, the Taiwan Patrol Force commander would be the naval component commander, and the Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) would be the Army component commander.

In addition to planning and peacetime responsibilities, the Commander of USTDC was assigned as the Single Senior Military Representative of Commander-in-Chief Pacific (CINCPAC). As such, he served as CINCPAC's single military spokesman on Taiwan -- exclusive of the miliitary assistance program -- and assumed responsibility for coordinating administrative and other policy matters for all U.S. armed forces on Taiwan on behalf of CINCPAC.

After twenty-three years, five months and twenty-six days of operation, the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command held its final flag retreat ceremony during the afternoon of April 26, 1979. Marine SSG D. J. Gemmecke lowered the colors for the last time.

Rear Admiral James P. Linder, the last USTDC Commander, departed Taiwan on April 28, 1979, accompanied by his wife Patricia.

Today there is no trace of the large American military compound on Chung Shan North Road in which USTDC was located. The area now contains a modern art museum, a park and a large sports stadium.

I am not a historian, but I do recognize that history unrecorded is history lost. My objective here is simply to record some of my own experiences as an Air Force enlisted man during my assignment to USTDC from 10 June 1973 until 4 September 1974, and to provide a platform for others to do the same.

Feel free to comment on any of these entries or to e-mail me with your own experiences and photographs. My e-mail address is displayed at the top and bottom of this column, or you can comment on any of my entries by clicking on "Comments" directly under each one.

Don Wiggins
SMSgt, USAF (Ret)
Illinois, USA
USTDC, J-1

Regarding Photographs

To the best of my knowledge, all photographs on this blog are either in the public domain or are displayed with the permission of their owners.

Owned photographs remain the sole property of the individuals who provided them. They are not to be downloaded, copied or reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of their owners.

Send all requests for consent to me, through the email link at the bottom of this column, and I will pass them along to the owner of the photographs.

If you see any photographs here, past or present, which you believe have been inappropriately posted, contact me at the email address shown at the bottom of this column and they will be removed.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Linkou Annex Menu

1 comments:

Taipei

US Central Time Zone