USTDC

Photo of USTDC courtesy of Les Duffin

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

NSG History at TDC

This is from the NavyHistory.com website, which describes itself as being "...dedicated to preserving the proud and rich history of the worldwide CT community."

Naval Security Group Station History Dates  ====================================================================
Station                                                                     Opened                Closed/Disestablished ====================================================================
Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

Formosa Liaison Center                                             20 Oct 1952              25 Apr 1955

U.S. Formosa Defense Command                               25 Apr 1955              01 Nov 1955

U.S. Taiwan Defense Command (COMUSTDC)            01 Nov 1955             26 Apr 1979

NSGA TDC, Taipei, Taiwan                                            Jun 1957              02 Feb 1979
Detachment of NSGA Shu Lin Kou, Taiwan located at the Taiwan Defense Command

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The Last One Out

This article from the Lakeland (Florida) Ledger of April 25, 1979, describes the final lowering of the American flag in front of the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command.

I've written several pieces about the final days of TDC, but I've often wondered who the last "official" military person to leave Taiwan was.  I believe that Vice Admiral Linder's aide, Lieutenant Commander Skip Wright remained behind for a short time to finalize things, but I don't know when he physically departed.

Does anyone know who was the last one out?

Monday, January 2, 2012

Personnel Officer

I've been sorting through old news articles and found this one from the December 20, 1970 issue of the Ocala (Florida) Star Banner.  It's a standard hometown piece that the military services send to local papers when a resident is assigned to a new unit.  In this case, a First Lieutenant Blackwell was assigned to USTDC as a personnel officer.

What drew my attention was that when I arrived in 1973, there was no personnel officer.  I was the personnel NCO as a tech sergeant, but my boss was Army lieutenant colonel Clay Blanton, who was (as I recall) the Administrative/Personnel Officer and he worked directly for the J-1. My guess is that the personnel officer position was cut as part of the gradual downsizing of TDC during that period.

Incidentally, the lieutenant's father-in-law, Major General Henry W. McMillan, was the Adjutant General of the Florida National Guard.