USTDC

Photo of USTDC courtesy of Les Duffin

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

New Info on Naval Hospital and Other Landmarks

Back in January 2008, I posted a short article about the Naval Hospital in Taipei.  Basically I said that I vaguely remembered it but couldn't remember where it was.  During the following weeks and months, several people sent me much more information and some photographs that I posted in later articles.  Toward the bottom of the right-hand column here, you'll find a section titled "Topics."  Scroll down and click on "Medical" and you should pick up most of I've written on the subject.

Today, Gene Abernathy made a comment to that original post regarding a much earlier period. He wrote:

The Hospital that served all the military in 1955-1959 to the best of my recollection was the MAAG hospital in the MAAG compound off of Chung Shan Pei Lo. Don't recall any other Hospital in the area at the time. Believe they contemplated moving the MAAG Hospital shortly after one of the typhoons flooded it pretty bad. Went back to Taiwan a couple of years ago and attempted to locate the command where I was stationed. It was COMSEVENTFLT Staff Det. Alfa, Joint Operations Center (JOC). It was located about a 1/4 of a mile past the old 13th AF Base Out a long way via Roosevelt Rd (which was a dirt road at the time). If anyone can offer a coordinate for google world check I would appreciate. I might add, the first club 63 was also on the compound and moved to Pei An Rd (below the Grand Hotel) in 57 I believe.
The O Club was a little ways outside the gate of the MAAG Compound up on Chung Shan Pei Rd. across from Hostel 2. Fond memories of different times. I completed 30 years of Naval Service in 1981 and my memories have always taken me back to the best duty station I had in Taiwan. Best, Gene Abernathy
If anyone can add anything to this, please leave a comment or drop me an email.  As always, I'd love to post any photos that may have survived the years.

7 comments:

Victor said...

Maybe the following would help.
Archive of the Central News Agency: 美軍醫院破土典禮(Groundbreaking Ceremony of the U.S. Military Hospital in suburban Taipei on July 25, 1960) http://www.cnavista.com.tw/shop/Stores_app/Browse_Item_Details.asp?Store_Id=103&Shopper_Id=2099911228209&page_id=23&Cat_id=%A8%E5%C2%A7%20%C2%E5%B0%7C%20%A4%A4%AC%FC%ADx%A8%C6%C3%F6%ABY%20%ADx%C2%E5%20%AD%D3%A4H%B7%D3&IndexNo=19600725007400

Campus plan of the medical school(on Chung Shan South Road) of the National Taiwan University: 14.研究大樓 原美國海軍醫院(14.Research Center, used to be the U.S. Naval Hospital) http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~cpo/download/2001plan/CHAP04_4.pdf

Anonymous said...

Here's what I remember about the hospital: My buddy Richard blew his thumb off with a firecracker. Fortunately, it happened right across the street from the hospital, and his mom also worked there. Good times...

Stev said...

Like Gene, the only "hospital" I remember is that "sick bay" was in the MAAG Compound. I don't remember ever reporting to sick bay, but in orientation I was shown where to go if I needed to. I left Taiwan shortly after the 1960 groundbreaking date for the U. S. Military Hospital referred to by Victor, so that hospital would have been after my time there.

justme said...

well this isn't going to help with coordianates but thenaval hospital was just outside of tienmou. if you were to drive all the way through tien mou and wind toward the chinese (i beleve) veterans hospital it was down that way. my mom worked there for a minute 'till they found out her g s rating was higher than that of her boss who was active military. im going to try and jog my memory to see if i can remmeber the name of the road. it was not in a western area nor was it an area that was very develped at the time of '69-'75.

Anonymous said...

Quinn, I think you are talking
about Tien Mou road three, which
is now Tien Mou West road.

Unknown said...

I arrive Taipei around Aug-Sept. 1960 departed May 62. Was at TDC J2.2 most of the time, spent a little time at Shu Lin Kou, was bussed up the hill in the ole 58 Chevy carryalls.

Many of my buddies were from the Sick Bay, memory is foggy to some extent. From the back of TDC you could go through an alley way and come out into a compound, near the theater, to the left was the PX to the right would be the commersary you could exit on to Chung Shan north road Or you could cross the street and there was the MAAG compound, I spent little time there but did stand by while some of my buddies pulled night duty at the sick bay. I only remember there being Navy Corpsman there (about half of which were Fleet Marine Corpsman in Korea, a grand group of guys) and about three Navy doctors, it was a circus there at night and as good a show as in town. People coming in hurt, sick, lame or lazy.

As I recall Sick Bay was straight ahead as you passed through the gate. In the back of the compound, I believe there was a service station there where I bought gas in this compound, so the road split both compounds.

If one went away from the river, towards town, on the left side of the road would be the Air Force and the Army clubs where you could get food and such. Continue up the road a few hundred yards to the right was a Hostel that one part of it burned down shortly after I got there. I was living there at the time. My portion burned I lost everything.

On up the road a little further off the street a little ways was the Navy Club.

I don't remember Ten mou or any of the other places.

I don't think at the time there was a hospital as such there, because I got messed up about Nov 61? and was air vac'd to Japan spent nearly a month there before coming back to Taipei.

Fading memory, I enjoyed my stay had a good time

RGH former CT2 USN

justme said...

yeah well this is the fairly acute memory of a 14 y o who had to take a military dep daughter on a search for birth control. she couldn't go to the naval hospital and i fig i'd lie my way through the chinese facility about her age(she was 17). it didn't work. she got sent stateside soon after. i always thought the funny thing about the naval hospital was that it seemed so flat. i d k? and now i think i need to rescind some previous thoughts: there might have been some sort of western housing dev whether civ or mil sorta across the street as i think some friends of my folks lived around there.