MG Bowen Farewell

Scott in Taipei provided this photograph of 鮑恩少將 Major General Frank S. Bowen, who was Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) during Sep 1956 - Jul 1958.

 If you have more information on MG Bowen or if you recognize any of the other individuals in this photograph, please comment below.

EM Club Kaohsiung Memento

I recently received a note from Joseph "PAT" Halton, the son of Navy SH1 J.J. Halton, who was the Club Manager of the EM Club in Kaohsiung from 1962 until 1967.  Pat included a photo of the pennant that was presented to his father upon his departure from Taiwan. 

Pat wrote:  "I recently found one of my father's service mementos. It's a hand made pennant of "Deputy Dog" with a note thanking him for his service as Manager of EM Club Kaohsiung.  My oldest brother had it for years, unfortunately he passed away in '09; so after quite some time in "mothballs" this memento of our Dad's service is seeing the light of day for the first time in ages.  I just had to try and see if I could find out anything about it, or more importantly my father, or even the person who made it or the people he served with.

We lost my Dad back in 1972, and I remember seeing this pennant and how cool I thought it was. I will soon be mailing this to my youngest brother and am sending the information I found on Kaohsiung along with it. Maybe you or someone my Dad served with can add more:  'James Joseph Halton retired in the mid-60's after 24 years of service in the Navy. He was a Boatswain's Mate originally, but retired as a Ship's Serviceman First Class (SH1). He was originally from Colfax CA and retired in Carson City, NV. He served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam.'

I am a 29-year Navy veteran and really appreciate you guys keeping our history going, so others may know. Thank you for your service and God Bless!!

Sincerely,
Joseph "PAT" Halton
CMDCM(SW), USN (Retired)"

I wrote a short article back in 2009 about the EM Club in Kaohsiung which you can find at THIS LINK.

Looking for assistance

I received a note today from Orren Hoopman and he agreed to let me post it here.  If anyone can answer any of his questions, please either comment below or drop me an email and I'll put him in touch with you.

 

 

Greetings,

 

I live in Hualien Taiwan, and have worked for ROCAF at the 401st air base here. I'm the guy who helped Michael Hurst locate his final POW Camp at Karenko, which is currently on the site of a ROC Military Police training base.

 

Am wondering if anyone you know can recognize someone stationed in Taiwan in the EARLY 50s, upon the formation of the USTDC. I know an aging gentleman who served in USAF named Lloyd Ramsey (lives in WA State) who claims to have been here in Taiwan circa 1954.He was the best man at my father's wedding in 1956, and is the husband of my mother's oldest and dearest friend. I cannot get any info from him, as he is sworn to secrecy concerning what he was doing in Taiwan in the 50s, and says he will carry what he knows to his grave.

 

My father, Delbert Hoopman, was USAF stationed in Guam during the same period.I know he was a communications Tech Sergeant on SAC B-36s using the old "Q-code" to transmit, but perhaps he was on B-29s or B-50s before that. He also spent time in Alaska.  Sadly, he died in an airshow plane crash of a home-built Pietenpol (Google the name) back in 1983, prior to my having any interest in Taiwan.

 

Might anyone recognize these names?

 

Also, does anyone have more info on US Military activities on Taiwan PRIOR to the signing of the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty in 1955? As a research exercise, I am curious as to whether or not a "prinicipal-agent occupying force" relationship between the USA and ROC, as initiated under General Order #1, was ever FORMALLY declared.

 

 

Best regards,

Orrin "Colonel FOG" Hoopman

Recalling the Early Days

I received a nice note from retired Navy CPO Joe Faszcza who was one of the early pioneers at USTDC, arriving in 1956. He was kind enough to provide a summary of his experiences from those times and here's what he had to say:

It was early December 1956 when I completed getting my shots at the Naval Station, Treasure Island (San Francisco) and was ready to begin the long journey to Formosa.

There were only "prop" planes in those days, so our first first stop was at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, for a couple of days and then it was on to Guam. The NCO club only opened for an hour each day from 1200 until 1300 where one could get a beer. Another couple of days and it was then on to Clark AFB in the Philippines. The only flights out of Clark to Taipei were on Tuesday and Thursday, so if you arrived on a Friday you were SOL until Tuesday. The seats on the flight were bucket seats and the lunches were always a sandwich and an apple.

What a shock to arrive at what the Taipei airport in those days. It looked like a lean-to shed to me. There was a Chinese military driver there to meet me. There were no paved roads; only dirt roads with big pot holes. Most of the traffic seemed to be ox carts where the driver scooped up the ox's s**t and shoveled it into the back of his cart.

A bus took me from the United States Taiwan Defense Command building up to Grass Mountain (Yangmingshan) where I was berthed. There were two hostels, a recreation building and a chow hall (closed mess). When you lost all your money playing the slots at Club 63, the closed mess would let you run a tab. The tea was free but peanut butter and banana sandwiches were $ .05. The phone number was sue-sue-limba 4412 I think! The hostels had double bunk beds and a community restroom and showers. Kerosense lamps provided the heat. Whenever the shuttle bus engine conked out, the driver would beat the engine with a hammer - but it worked!

TDC was located at the far end of Taipei off a road adjacent to a river (Tamsui?). There was a zoo nearby which housed chickens, roosters, and other "wild" animals. Also nearby was the Grand Hotel and the Club 63 was down the road.

I was a 20 year old E-3 assigned to J-1 (Personnel) with a Navy Commander as the Division Officer and a Navy Warrant as the Administrative Officer. Our big job was to publish the Plan of the Day.  We only had one stencil machine in the building and it was located in J-2 (Intelligence). The Legal Office was also located on the first floor. The Admiral, his Chief of Staff, and Comms were all located topside.

We worked and stood personal inspections wearing dungarees and a tee shirt. The motor pool, and sick bay (where you got those yellow pills for your burning sensations) were located behind the building. The Photo Lab was a Quonset hut. We used a barrel-like object made of what appeared to be chain link fencing for burning our classified documents.  We took turns turning the handle of the barrel to ensure nothing remained. The mail came in via ship at Keelung twice a week.

Many bars intersected the main drag (Chung Shin Pay Lou). I hung out at The Black Cat bar where mixed drinks, e.g. VO or CC, were about a quarter and a glass of ice was a nickel. The girls in the clubs earned their living by getting the customers to buy them drinks. If a girl left with you, it would cost you about $7.00. There was also a bar called "Dick's" and they had the best Mongolian barbeque one would taste.

There was a town nearby, called Paytoe, that had many hotels. They also had sulphur springs where one could take a hot sulphur bath and feel like Superman. Our valuables were very rarely looted.

We rode in the Admiral's plane for R&R flights to Hong Kong.  We could wear civies in Hong Kong but the fleet guys still  had to wear their uniforms. We were also able to ferry over to Kowloon. I bought a cashmere white dinner jacket for $25.00 and tailor made monogrammed silk shirts for $2.00 apiece. Dick, one of our shipmates, got caught by customs bringing in a suitcase full of glass frames. He got a special courts martial and restriction to the hostel for three months. His girlfriend used to come up to the hostel to visit him while he was on restriction.

Ed, another shipmate, got drunk and killed a local while driving back up the mountain. The locals rioted and we called it "Black Friday." They bussed us down to the compound and issued us weapons but nothing further happened.  Ed was transferred to a psychiatric hospital in Japan.

At 20 years of age, I spent most of my time drinking and partying until I ended up with a collapsed lung and was hospitalized at the MAAG clinic.  While there I met an Army guy from Chicago.  Both he and I spoke Polish and we used to break up our nurses by speaking to each other in Polish. On my last day at the clinic, one of the nurses admitted that she also spoke Polish and knew everything we were saying. One good thing did happen to me during that week in the clinic. I studied for advancement and shortly thereafter got promoted to E-4.

I left TDC in July 1959 and still communicate with two shipmates.  It's been over 56 years!

Rear Admiral Frank W. Fenno Jr.

I recently received a nice note from Bill Masters, along with a couple of photographs.  He wrote:

I've been looking through your website and came across a list of Chiefs of Staff for USTDC.  I was there as a photographer from 1955 to 1956 and remember that Rear Admiral Frank. W. Fenno Jr. was the Chief of Staff under Vice Admiral Stewart H. Ingersoll, the first Commander of USTDC.  Since Rear Admiral Fenno is not listed, his picture is attached along with a photo of him shipping over (re-enlisting) four of the photo lab staff in August 1956.  Admiral Fenno also played on the TDC softball team.

Until now, I'd shown Air Force Brigadier General Harold Winfield Grant as the first USTDC Chief of Staff, but Bill tells me that he never saw him or heard of him at TDC.  I know that RADM Fenno was named as Commander of the Formosa Liaison Center, which became the Formosa Defense Command until the establishment of the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command.  Vice Admiral Ingersoll was the first Commander of USTDC and apparently RADM Fenno remained as Chief of Staff.  Every TDC Chief of Staff after that was an Air Force officer, most of them Brigadier Generals.  I have changed my listing of USTDC Chiefs of Staff to include RADM Fenno.

Many thanks to Bill Masters for helping me sort all this out. 

Taipei Transports of the 1960s

Here's another group of photographs from Bill Amborn.  He wrote:

"Here is a small photo collection of ways in which goods and people were moved around in 1963-1965. I was intrigued by how things moved and stationed myself in a spot to photographed whatever came by. The photos were all taken in the same area, probably along Zhongshan Bei Lu. This is more part of the general history of Taiwan than anything to do with the military, a different slice than one might usually encounter.

 

I don’t know how much had changed in the ten years between my tour and yours, but now when I cruise around the roads on Google today, it is just incredible."

I believe I saw most of these methods of transport still being used during 1973-74, though probably far fewer of them than were around ten years earlier.  The exception would be the pedicabs.  I think they had been banned from the streets of Taipei by then.

 

Historic Preservation of BOT Housing

Kent Mathieu (Taipei Air Station Blog), John Crum (Taipei Signal Army Blog) and I are trying to help a group of folks in the Taipei area who are in the process of preserving and restoring a number of the old Bank of Taiwan (BOT) housing units that were home to many American military families from the 1950s through the 1970s.  Kent has summarized the request by the preservationists and explains how many of you may be able to help them in this effort.

Their idea was to repair and restore these old homes to a semblance of their original condition, maintaining the landscape, foliage and openness of the area.  The area would become a protected “Historical Village” where visitors could see the homes as they looked during the period the US Military resided in them.

These homes are unique.  They were designed and constructed with the idea in mind of replicating a typical home found in  US sub-divisions in the 1950s.  Since our departure in 1979, many of these homes have fallen into disrepair.  Some of them have already been brought back to life.

The courts in Taipei have asked for certain information showing who lived in these homes.  It has been 33 years since these homes were occupied; many folks from Taiwan have forgotten who lived in them.  Can you please help us?   If you resided in any of the homes maintained by the Bank of Taiwan (BOT,)  please send us your information as shown in the document below.  Please E-mail your information to:   TaipeiAirStation@yahoo.com.

The compiled listing will be furnished to the court to confirm that US personnel did live in these homes through the years.  This is a very important, key document, in the effort to save these homes from being destroyed.  Please take a few moments to send your information to Kent.  Everyone associated with the project appreciates your help.  Kent will update as this project proceeds.

You can see what information the courts have asked for, as seen below, in this document.

The Subject line of this Document (In Chinese) reads as follows – Loosely translated:  Data Records from the Taipei City Government, Cultural Department, regarding American Military and Families etc..........

The Headings of the Columns on the Form – loosely translated:

• House Number
• Resident Name and Information
• Residing (Yes) or (No)
• Length of Stay
• Remarks

Please forward your information as shown below:

F203      Martin, Jack  Col USA  MAAG  Yes   1965-1968        No remarks

Please help us with this, if we can furnish enough information, some of the homes will probably be saved.  Our presence in Taiwan will be remembered by those citizens of Taiwan who have no idea we were ever there.  I get mail off and on from college students at NTU who discovered that some of the buildings at the National Taiwan University once housed the US Military.  They had no idea!  

Let us hear from you.

Special Forces in Taiwan

Taiwan Scott sent me this photo, along with a page from the 1972 American newspaper in which the photo appeared.

"GREEN BERETS IN TAIWAN -- U.S. Army Special Forces "A Team" poses in front of a Chinese temple in a village in southern Taiwan recently.  The Okinawa-based Green Berets came to Taiwan for a joint Chinese-U.S. disaster relief exercise in a remote mountain valley on the island.  Green Beret veterans from Vietnam have built bridges and laid water lines in cooperation with Nationalist Chinese troops."




******  ADDED ON 3/2/2012  ******

This photo was probably taken on the same day as the above photo.

Structure of Many Uses

Taiwan Scott sent me this photo of the building on Yang Ming Shan (which we often called "Grass Mountain") that some people at USTDC knew as Hostel #1.

The photograph was taken in 1931.  Scott says that the building was built by the Taiwan Sugar Corporation (of Japan).  That style of architecture is very similar to other buildings on YMS that were built in the early 1920's by the Taiwan Sugar Corporation.  The TSC was one of the Japanese monopolies (Other monopolies were lumber, rice, metals and coal).  The Japanese maintained full control of all those industries during the Japanese era on Taiwan.

A few years ago I posted these two photos that Stev Pitchford took of the Hostel #1 building when it was being used by the American military.  There was a lot more vegetation around the building by then but you can easily tell that the building looked basically the same as it did thirty years earlier.

Also back in 2008, I received additional information from George, who was kind enough to provide some links that show the building as it exists today:

The Grass Mountain Hostel #1 is now Taipei Teachers' In-Service Education Center.
I searched the web in English but found very little info. The two best blogs in Chinese I found are the following:

http://blog.xuite.net/liangcw/blog/13758803

The above blog mentions the facility was used as dormitories by US military personnel until 1969.  The facility then was used by the Park Authority until 1981 when it became Taipei Teachers' In-service Education Center.

More photos including International Hotel and Chiang Ka- Sheik's summer villa: 

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/tigergrass/5607328

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.

The Big Picture: The Army in Taiwan

I've posted The Big Picture newsreels here before, but Scott just alerted me to one I hadn't seen.  It's titled "The Army in Taiwan" and it contains images that many here will find familiar.  I appreciate the fact that NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration, preserves many of these old government films and makes them available for all of us to see.

Letters Home

Stev Pitchford was a Navy photographer at TDC during 1959-60.  Many of his excellent photographs have been enjoyed by countless visitors here.

Stev recently went through a stack of letters that he wrote to his parents years ago.  What follows are his comments about the letters, followed by excerpts from some of those that he wrote during his time in Taiwan.   I really enjoyed them because I think they're typical of letters written by young men far away from home years ago, and probably similar to letters written by today's young men and women stationed around the world.  Of course most of today's letters are probably typed on a keyboard and received by Mom and Dad within seconds after they're sent.

Mom and Dad saved the letters I wrote to them while I was in the Navy.  After about 50 years, I've gotten around to reading them.  Some things I remember pretty well, but there's a lot I don't recall.

A few remarks about Chiang Kai Shek (Gemo) and President Eisenhower (Ike) were a little impertinent, but I was a teenager at the time.  Looking back, I realize what a privilege it was to have come into personal contact with two of the most significant figures of the 20th century.

July 29, 1959  (Treasure Island, San Francisco, CA)

 

. . . . I leave at 6:30 AM August 1, by plane.  I’m not sure where I’ll wind up, but it will probably be Taiwan or Japan

. . . .The next time you hear from me it will be from across the Pacific. . .

 

August 6, 1959

 

. . . . Well, I’m here.  I got in Taipei at about 4:00 this afternoon.  There is no base here.  Taiwan Defense Command is one building on one side of town. . . .  It could be very nice.

 

. . . . I don’t know if I’ll stay here or be shipped to some other part of the island.  I’ll find out tomorrow. . . . .

 

. . . .Tomorrow . . . .  I’m staying here.  And I’m beginning to like it even more.  There are 11 people in the photo lab, and it isn’t too busy. . . .

 

. . . . I went to a Mongolian Barbecue for lunch today.  9 of us went across town on 5 motor scooters to the place.  I don’t know what it was but it was good.  We ate with chop sticks, which proved to be interesting. 

 

August 17, 1959

 

. . . .There aren’t many cars here, but that doesn’t mean anything.  There are plenty of bicycles, rickshaws, and people to make up for it. . . .

 

. . . . Seeing as how we get pretty good money and things are so cheap here, we live pretty high.  I’m going to be spoiled when I get back. . . .

 

. . . . They have American movies here.  Most of the theaters in Taipei are comparable to those in the U. S.  I’m told that one will show up anything in the states. . . .

 

August 30, 1959

 

. . . . I get mail in the oddest ways here.  Commanders bring it to me, I get some on days the mail isn’t supposed to come in, and yours just came in the middle of a typhoon. . . .

 

. . . . 4 of us are keeping the photo lab tied down during this big wind.  Right now it’s supposed to be blowing about 100 mph outside.  It’s 1:30 AM and I’ve got nothing better to do, so I’m answering your letter.  I’ll bet this is the first letter you’ve received written in the middle of a typhoon. . . .

Sept. 7, 1959

 

. . . . Probably tomorrow, I’m leaving for Matsu for about a week.  It’s an island 2 miles from the mainland.  So now I’m going to see Communist China. . . .

 

Sept. 16, 1959

 

. . . . I was on Matsu for 5 days.  That’s a group of islands 5 miles from the Communist coast.  It’s from right out of the war movies.

 

I even had my own personal jeep and driver till the last day.  Then I had to share it with an officer. . . .

 

And to top it all, I got $70 extra pay for going. . . .

 

I finally made it on board ship.  I came back on a Chinese destroyer.  I was all over the thing shooting pictures. . . .

 

 

Sept. 24, 1959

 

. . . . I went swimming for the first time last Sunday.  They’ve got a wild diving board at this pool.  Usually you use a diving board to put you where and how you want to hit the water.  Not so with this one.  It throws you any ole place it feels like.  Very exciting.

 

Monday is Confucius’ birthday, so we’ve got a long week-end. . . .

 

 

Dec. 17, 1959

 

. . . . Last week we really put out the work.  I didn’t even get one day off - - - except for the weekend.  Things like that don’t happen very often though.  We’ve been about half busy this week.

 

We’ve had a pretty cold week.  A raincoat feels pretty good now.

 

 

Jan. 26, 1960

 

. . . . I don’t know about this command.  One of our idiot generals thought it would be nice to stand an inspection once a month.  Not that that wasn’t bad enough - - - we have to wear uniforms to and from work and any other time we leave the compound.  Since we have to work in dungarees (uniforms would get stained), this will involve changing clothes every 5 minutes. . . .

 

 

Feb. 10, 1960

 

. . . . Our general’s ideas just went out the window Monday - - - hooray!  We’re back to normal now. . . .

 

 

Feb. 29, 1960

 

I went to the Admiral’s house again Saturday.  I showed “Auntie Mame.”  And I had pop corn for the first time since I’ve been on this island.

 

I was out shooting pictures all Saturday afternoon.  The Admiral’s aide got me a car to use all day, so I saw some new territory.  I thought that was pretty nice of him.

 

 

May 1, 1960

 

. . . . Gemo is throwing a tea party at the hostel tonight, so I think I’ll go bowling again.  I don’t like crowds. . . .

 

 

May 21, 1960

 

. . . . I learned today that I got my fourth stripe May 16.  I’ve been a PHG3 for almost a week now. . . .

 

 

June 16, 1960

 

. . . . I’m mad at Ike.  Just because he’s coming here, I have to work this weekend.  That messes up my swimming and I might miss a good movie. . . .

 

 

June 23, 1960

 

. . . .Ike sure messed up my weekend.  I didn’t even get to go swimming once.  And the weather was perfect.  This place looked like Ripley on the 4^th of July. . . .

 

 

July 19, 1960

 

. . . . I got myself a Zenith Trans-Oceanic radio last week.  It is an awfully potent short wave radio.  I haven’t even hitched an aerial to it, and I can get as far east as Delano, Calif. and as far west as Paris, France. . . .

 

 

Aug. 4, 1960

 

. . . . The basic reason I decided to get a recorder is that in this part of the world I hear things (on the short wave radio) I’m not sure I’ll be able to pick up in the states, and they’ll be interesting to me and maybe you to hear later.  Radio Peiping, from Communist China, is my main target here.  They tell me how horrible we “imperialist Americans” are. . . .

 

 

Aug. 11, 1960

 

. . . . I may be sitting on that front porch with you in about 25 days.  My orders came in yesterday.  I’m going to the Norton Sound - - - which didn’t shock me too much.  I leave August 30 - - - which really shocked me. . . .

 

 

Aug. 21, 1960

 

. . . . I’ll see you sometime next week.  I fly out of here on the 29^th. . . .

Stev

Mrs. Linder at Quarters A -- Then and Now

As I wrote a few days ago, Patricia Linder, the wife of Rear Admiral James Linder recently returned to Taipei for a few days.  While there, she visited what used to be "Quarters A," the official residence of the USTDC Commander.

Scott just sent me these photos that were taken more than 30 years apart at the front gate to the residence.

 

West Compound 1958

Here's another clip from 1958 showing the dispensary in the west compound.  Click HERE to watch the short video.  Notice the sign in this photo from the clip.  It was straight ahead from the west compound entrance and near the back of the compound.  It displayed different things over the years, but the sign itself remained, probably until the compounds were destroyed.

That brings up another question that I've had for some time.  Does anyone happen to know when the east and west compounds, along with the USTDC building, were demolished?

Red Cross at MAAG Compound in 1958

Scott Ellinger alerted me to a great commercial website for historical videos. It's at criticalpast.com and they offer thousands of old government films. All of the films have samples that you can view at the website.

This afternoon I found one from 1958 of the American Red Cross in Taiwan during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.   It shows the hospital in the west compound.  A Red Cross Gray Lady comes out of the building.  She goes to the Exchange in the east compound and shops inside, apparently with a shopping list of things for people at the hospital. She pays cash at the counter, gets into a pedicab and returns to the west compound. She enters the hospital, talks to servicemen and delivers items to them. A serviceman lying in bed pays her for the cigarettes.  This is the only image I've seen of the inside of the Exchange.  Of course this was 1958 and it had probably changed some by the time I got there in the 1970s.

Click on the above image to see the video.

Back to the Old Neighborhood

Sarj Bloom recently sent me some photos that show how much his old neighborhood has changed since he lived there in the early 1960s.

This is a photo I took from the same neighborhood that I took the Opera and Story teller photos.  The first photo is of a rice field across the street during Typhoon Amy, before things got too bad to be outside. The other photo is of children and other residents at another time.

I knew it as Min Sin E. Rd. but the spelling has changed so much now.  It was hard for me to finally locate the area on Google Earth. I believe I have it now. It is Minsheng E. Rd.  I have a couple of images from Google Earth and I am pretty sure this is the same building that I lived in for a few months. I lived in the second floor apartment and another sailor lived in the 3rd floor.  The first photo is what I believe was my apartment and the second photo is looking directly across the street from there.

 

If indeed this is the same building and area you can see the changes that occur in almost 50 years. I'm amazed and I'm sure that some of the blog visitors from Taipei will be amazed also.

Here's a story about that day of the Typhoon. The back part of the apartment had two walls of glass panes that went from ceiling to waist high. There was a section that was about 6 feet long and then another section that went the length of kitchen, bath and water heater area which was a good 12 feet. I often thought that it was odd to have all glass and thought that maybe it was cheaper than using brick.

Anyway, during the storm my wife and I could see the long section of glass panes bowing in and out and we were afraid it would break and throw glass everywhere. We went to the front of the apartment far from the panes of glass and stayed there. Just as we got settled we heard a crash and thought our wall of glass boke. We stole a peek and saw that it wasn't ours but we heard screaming upstairs.

We went upstairs to see if we could help and sure enough their wall had given way and the Navy guy had pieces of glass sticking in his chest and stomach. He and his wife had both been drinking and didn't seem to feel any pain. I asked if I could help and he said they were okay.  I went back down to our apartment and got back in our safe zone. We could still hear the guy and his wife arguing.

We moved to another apartment soon after this.  I had never seen anything like that entire wall going in and out like it was breathing.

Ground Surveys from Grass Mountain -- 1958

I was recently contacted by retired Air Force Major John J. Molitaris, Jr.  John was part of a ground survey team at the top of Grass Mountain in 1958.  Here's his account of that deployment:

My experience on Grass Mountain occurred as a member of the 1370 Photo Mapping Group, home based at Palm Beach AFB, Florida.  The basic mission was to upgrade previous ground surveys conducted with tripods and sextants.

The group consisted of four (4) squadrons: (1) 1371 Sqdn – RB-50 (4-engine bomber) Operations, (2) 1372 Sqdn – Logistics Support, (3) 1373 Sqdn – Data Analysis, and (4) 1374 Sqdn – Radar Ground Stations.  I was a member of the 1374^th which deployed remote ground station teams consisting an E-5/E-6 Electronic Tech Chief (3073), E-3/E-4 Electronic Tech Deputy Chief (3053), E3 thru E-5 Ground Radio Operator, and an E-3 thru E-5 Ground Power Operator/Maintenance man.  Each team member was cross trained in the other disciplines to maintain operational status in the event of illness or medical evacuation.  Survey missions involved two ground stations with a RB-50 flying between them at several altitudes.  Surveys were accomplished with the Short Range Navigation (SHORAN) radar.  Site deployments usually lasted three to six months.  I was the E-4 Electronic Tech when I deployed to the Grass Mountain site in March 1958 for three months.

Grusome-11 was housed in the wooden Formosa Government fire watcher hut located on top of Grass Mountain.  The site required portable AC/DC power generators, UHF/HF radio sets, 55 gallon barrels of drinkable water and aviation gasoline, 5 in 1 field rations and folding cots.  The only road ran beyond the Grass Mountain Hostel to an elevation of 2,500 feet (approximate).  Laborers were paid to sling all the site items on bamboo poles another 2,500 feet up a narrow trail.  The fifty (50) foot Receive/Transmit antenna mast was quite visible on clear days.

Our contingent was certainly a curiosity to the local citizens and especially the university students who hiked up to the site often.  We were able to exchange cultural facts about US and Formosa because the students spoke English reasonably well.  I still remember going outside in the mornings to see we were above the clouds and listening to the Formosa Army artillery practice echoing through the mountain ranges.

I remember the Grass Mountain Hostel well.  It was the great R & R escape from a cold hut, 5 in 1 rations, AND bathing in a dish washing tub with the cold wind blowing in around the windows.  5 in 1 rations beat out C-rations but couldn’t touch the filet mignon with eggs breakfast at the Hostel.  Those dual temperature hot sulfer tubs were the greatest once you learned how to use them.  It was embarrassing the first time when I stayed too long and my 195 pounds had to be rescued by 2-3 staff.  The only downside occurred when I and my Argus camera wandered down the road towards the mountain residence of Chiang Kai-shek.  The sudden appearance of an air-cooled 30 caliber machine gun was a heart stopper.  Grass Mountain was one of the top deployments of my enlisted service.

Unfortunately the slides I took on Grass Mountain were misplaced or lost.

 

John J. Molitaris, Jr.

Major, USAF (Ret.)   

Taiwan Visit of USS Wasp in 1954

On 10 January 1954, Taiwan's Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek spent more than four hours on board the USS Wasp watching simulated air war maneuvers in Formosan waters.

USS Wasp (CV-18) in 1954

 The following are Kwei family photos of that event.  Note that Vice Admiral Alfred M. Pride was Commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet and became the First Commander of the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command.

Chiang Kai-shek is wearing the overcoat.  To his right is VADM Pride and to VADM Pride's right is GEN Kwei Yung-ching.  GEN Kwei was the Chief of the General Staff, highest ranking general below Chiang Kai-shek.

Ambassador Rankin and VADM Pride

VADM Pride and Taiwan VADM Soong

Major General Chase (MAAG Chief) and VADM Pride

Chiang Ching-kuo reviewing U.S. Marine guards aboard the USS Wasp

FASD Hostel Opening

Today's video, courtesy of Wang Chun, shows the opening of the FASD Hostel on August 26, 1963.  I believe that this was the older of the two hostels that were there during my assignment in 1973-74.  I lived in the newer one, which was located behind this building.

The quality of these old film clips isn't good, and this one has no sound track, but I think it's important that they be available to the public for historical purposes.



Mr. Wang wrote:

Taipei FASD Hostel was built and operated by Combined Logistics Command, CLC （聯勤總部）.
The Chinese general in this clip is Lai Min Tong（賴名湯）. He was the commanding general of CLC then. And in the subsequent decade he became commander of Chinese Air Force and finally climed up to the top of the whole military structure. It's something like Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff in US. In Chinese, we call it 「參謀總長」.
As for the American general in this clip, I think it is Maj Gen Kenneth O. Sanborn.
After American military withdrew out of Taiwan, CLC converted FASD Hostel to a civil hostel and opened to the public. In early 1980's, I've joined a wedding banquet in former FASD Hostel restaurant which was called ''Rainbow Hall''（彩虹廳）.

VADM Baumberger Addresses Taipei Rotary Club

Wang Chun has provided numerous audio and video files to this blog over the past couple of years or so.

Today's video is from July 4th, 1972.  Vice Admiral Walter H. Baumberger, USTDC Commander from August 1970 through September 1972, addresses the Taipei Rotary Club.