More Memories

I heard from Tom Graves today, who arrived at USTDC in 1964. Here's a portion of his comments:

Yesterday I was going through some old boxes and found a special folder marked USTDC. My first assignment in the Navy was at the USTDC headquarters in Taipei. I arrived in Taipei in April 1964 and departed in June 1966. The Commanding Officer was Rear Admiral Gentner. I was assigned to the J-3 Section (Operations). When necessary I was the admiral's writer and was in charge of all documents within the department. Navy Captain Shaw was in charge of the department along with representatives of the other military branches (Commander Morgan (Navy), Lt.Col. VanHusen (Army) , Lt.Col._______(Air Force) Lt.Col._____(Marines). There were two other enlisted men in the department--Staff Sargeant Bird (USAF) and Sp4 Maier (USA). When Captain Shaw was reassigned he was replaced by Captain Beale (USN). I remember to this day, the original shock I experienced leaving the Taipei airport and going over dirt roads to the USTDC compound to a hostel where I would live for over two years. Being right out of yeoman school, first assignment, new customs, foreign language (name tag in Chinese), strange food, half way around the world...was a bit much. Over time it all became just another day at the office and an experience I will never forget. I was fortunate as I had great officers and enlisted people who respected each other regardless of rank. Working with our counterparts (the Taiwanese) and doing mock military exercises were exciting, even though I never got to see the water. Overall, if I could do it all again I would be on my way tomorrow.

As always, I welcome any comments that anyone has to offer here. Just send me whatever you have (text, pictures, whatever) and I'll get them posted. I established this blog so that the history of TDC and the activities of the people who worked there would not fade away and I need your help to make that happen.

Don

Still Getting Around Taipei

Here are the rest of the most recent pictures from Dennis McNelis (1973-1974), with his comments. If motorcyclists put their lives on the line in Taipei traffic, imagine what the bicyclists must have endured. But they were everywhere and they weren't just for getting around either; they were often piled high with cargo.




Intersection of Min Quan E and Zhong Shan N.





Intersection of Min Quan E and Zhong Shan N. Look in the background and to the left and you will see one of the entrances to the tunnel that went under this intersection. It is the cement box that almost looks like a pill box.






I do not recall where this pic was shot.
[...but I really like this one because it sort of captures the "feel" of all those little side streets. --Don]

Still Getting Around Taipei

More of Dennis McNelis's photos from 1973-1974 Taipei:

Picture taken just after the park, heading onto Bei An road on the East Side of the Grand Hotel and just before the 63 Club (China Seas). If you look real hard, you can see the 63 Club (China Seas) in the background. According to MSN Maps, Bei An would be the road that the 63 Club (China Seas) was on. I don't ever remember using the name of the road to tell anyone where the 63 Club was. All you had to do was say the words "63 Club" and everyone knew, even the taxi drivers.

Believe this photo was shot somewhere in the area off of what MSN Maps show as 7th Ave. This would be one of the Shuang Cheng or Shin Sheng Streets that ran off of 7th Ave. 7th Ave ran south from the back gate of the East Compound. I don't remember it being called 7th Ave but that is what MSN Maps has it as and Google Earth has it in Chinese which I can't read.

[I'd like to add that those "tri-pickups" could carry a very large and heavy load. I remember seeing farmers hauling hogs to market on them. Don]




Same location as the above - one of the Shuang Cheng or Shin sheng Streets off of 7th Ave.

[Also, this small motorcycle was probably the most common type in Taipei, as I recall. Don]





I'll post the remainder of the pictures that Dennis sent in a day or so.

Thanks again, Dennis!

More Taipei "Getting Around" Pictures

More pictures from Dennis, including the comments:

This is the bridge that ran north from the MAAG Compounds along Zhong Shan Rd N over the river to the Grand Hotel and the 63 Club (China Seas). I read somewhere that this bridge is no longer used but still in place.




This is in the Shih-Lin area just west of the Grand Hotel. It might be at the intersection of Hougang St, 5th Ave and Chengde Sec 4 Rd 80 Ln or 58 Ln. The area is so built up it is hard to tell (I am using MSN Maps for street names and Google Earth for locations then crossing referencing both. Google Earth road names are in Chinese).

Just after crossing the bridge on Zhong Shan N Rd heading north toward the 63 Club (China Seas) and before the Grand Hotel was this little park area on the East Side.

I'll post more pictures in a day or so. Many thanks to Dennis and all the others who have taken the time to share some of these great memories. Keep 'em coming!!

Getting Around In Taipei (Updated)

Dennis came back with more information on each of his photos and I'm adding those in brackets after my previous remarks.

Dennis McNelis was assigned to ASA in the TDC building during 1973-1974. Unlike some of us, Dennis took quite a few pictures during his tour and I've posted a number of them previously. He just sent me a few more, showing how most folks traveled around in those days, and I'll be posting the rest in the days ahead.

Next to walking, taxis were the main mode of transportation for some of us. They were inexpensive and available most anywhere in town. I may be wrong, but I believe that just to the right is the bridge that crossed the river on the way to the Grand Hotel and the China Seas enlisted club (Club 63).

[This pic should be known by all of us. It is right across from the Zoo on Zhong Shan N Rd heading north from the Compounds just before the bridge that crosses the river toward the Grand Hotel and 63 Club (China Seas). To the left would be the road that led to the entrance of the TDC and to the right would be heading north. This is looking West.]

More taxis here, along with motorcycles and bicycles. Dennis mentioned that he owned a motorcycle that he drove all around the city. (Yikes!) I wonder if bicycles still venture out onto the streets of Taipei?

[This is on Min Quan Road East on The East side of Zhong Shan Road N.]



Another cab here. I think this is in Tien Mou where many military families resided.

[This is in the Shih-Lin area just west of the Grand Hotel. It might be at the intersection of Hougang St, 5th Ave and Chengde Sec 4 Rd 80 Ln or 58 Ln. The area is so built up it is hard to tell (I am using MSN Maps for street names and Google Earth for locations then crossing referencing both. Google Earth road names are in Chinese).]

Return to Taipei

Kent Mathieu and Bill Kling are organizing a trip back to Taipei, tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2009. They're in the process now of scouting out the best transportation and hotel deals and will be posting that info at the new blog site that's been set up for the trip: http://americangisreturningtotaiwanin2009.blogspot.com/.

If you were stationed there and if you've ever thought about heading back to see how much the place has changed, this may be your best chance.

Taiwan Furniture, Etc.

Jim Sartor sent these photos of some things that he purchased during his time in Taipei. His remarks are next to each one. I wrote previously about the coffee table and end tables that I bought while I was there. One thing I didn't mention was that many of those coffee tables, like mine, could be broken down into three pieces. Each piece was exactly the maximum size allowed for the APO -- the military mail system -- so that even people who were in Taipei on R&R could buy a set and ship them home.

This is a marble bowl, marble eggs and marble fruit that you could buy on Chung Chan North road for about 10NT each.

This is one of the carved bookcases and carved screens that were made by Singer Lee in Shih Lin. They're still perfect after over 35 years.

Believe it or not, this is really a sewing machine cabinet. The top flips to one side, the sewing machine lifts up and the left front panel slides out to become a chair for sewing. Clever huh?

USTDC Chiefs of Staff

Several months ago, I listed what I determined to be all of the Air Force brigadier generals who served as USTDC Chief of Staff. I assembled that information from the Air Force's biography website of present and former senior officers.

I recently heard from an individual who believes that one of the individuals that I have listed for the period 1962-1965 may not be the correct name. I've been unable to find any other Air Force General who may have been there during that time.

If anyone was in Taipei during that period, I would be most grateful if you could take a quick look at my USTDC Chief of Staff listing and let me know if you spot any errors.

Thanks!

Taipei Area Sports Car Club (TASCC)

First of all, I apologize for the long dry spell here. I've been preoccupied with a family medical situation and just haven't been able to focus on much else until now. Thanks for your patience.

I received a note from Jim Sartor regarding the Taipei Area Sports Car Club:

Going thru some old pix of Taipei and remembered that in 71 or so a group of us got together and started the Taipei Area Sports Car Club. We used to run road rallies in and around Taipei and the outskirts and on many Sundays, ran slaloms on a dirt lot just outside Shu Linkou.

We had a ton of fun with our toys. I REALLY remember one dark night, while on a rally outside of Taipei, I hit one of those stray turkeys at about 80 miles an hour. Tore the front spoiler off my 240Z and made turkey hash out of the turkey. Took me 2 days to get the turkey off the bottom of my car!!!

Wondered if anyone else remembers TASCC?

When I was there in 1973-74, John Cranford -- one of my office mates -- was a member of this group. He also drove a 240Z (dark brown or maroon, I think). One Sunday he talked me into riding with him to a slalom event. I have a short 8MM film clip somewhere of the event, but about all it shows is the mountain of dust created by the tight turns of the participants' cars.

But my clearest memory of that day is the terror I experienced as he gleefully disregarded every traffic law in Taiwan on our way to and from the event. Somehow he managed not to kill anyone, including me.

Travels From Taipei

Like a lot of military people, Bill Kling was able to visit a number of other countries while stationed in Taiwan. Military flights sometimes have empty seats available to military personnel and many of those assigned to USTDC and elsewhere in Taiwan took advantage of that program.

Here's what Bill had to say:

I was fortunate in that my wife was in Taiwan with me during both of my tours, 73-75 & 77-79 and we used the opportunity to travel to several countries in Asia while I was stationed at USACC Taiwan. I wanted to see other countries, but as all good military people do I was looking for other possible tours and to visit friends I had made in other locations. I should explain that being in the Army and working in communications afforded some good assignments, and since I often talked to my counterparts in Okinawa, Philippines, Korea, Guam, Hawaii, and Thailand traveling around the area is something I had to do.

I was able to use SPACE-A travel from Sung Shan Air Base during my 73-75 tour which saved an awful lot of money. On my first trip we went to Clark Air Base in The Philippines. I had a friend who was assigned to an outfit called DCA-SWP, a tri-service unit, so although I was in the Army it gave me the opportunity to serve on an Air Force base. We went to PI for four days, stayed at my friend’s house, and spent a total $150, which included trinkets and some little gifts.

We had never traveled SPACE-A before, but the guys at Sung Shan taught me how to use the system. The way I remember it worked was you had to be signed out on leave before you could get on the priority list to get a seat on a plane. Since the Air Base was very close to where my headquarters were located, I would go to the Air Base and see what the chances of me getting a flight were before going on leave. If there was a good opportunity, I would go back to the compound sign out on leave and hustle back to the Air Base. On my first trip this saved me quite a few days of leave as there were no flights for me when I wanted to go, but I just came back 4 or 5 days in a row until I could get a flight. As military people do, I made some friends at the Air Base and I helped those guys make telephone calls home to the good old USA. It is amazing how we all learned to help each other.

Without boring you with too many travel stories, one more I would like to share is my solo trip to Saigon in April 1975. As we all know the US evacuated out of Vietnam on April 30, 1975. Well, there were many military people throughout Asia that had Vietnam friends or family in Saigon that wanted to get our before the North Vietnamese took over. Word spread that if you completed documents that would sponsor someone and presented them to the US Embassy in Saigon, the US Military would fly them out to either Guam or PI. I and a friend from Okinawa ended up volunteering to take approximately 50 sponsor packets to Saigon and help get their people out in early April 1975. I got a SPACE-A flight to Okinawa and then we took a commercial flight into Saigon. Of course we never told our commanders where our destination was as they would never allow our leave. Needless to say it was not a smart thing to do, but we were able to get out almost 40 people on that trip that lasted 12 days. We got a flight from Saigon to PI, and then I got a flight back to Taipei and then to Okinawa. It is really satisfying to think our crazy act saved some wonderful people. I am still in contact with many of the military people and families we were able to help.