Club 63 Lighter

Bill Kling spotted this item over on eBay. I don't know if anyone here would be interested in it, but I thought I'd mention it just in case. It looks like another one of the going-away gifts that the Club 63 used to hand out. This one was supposedly from the 1950s.

All I know is that the building looks quite different from what I remember from the 1970s, so it was probably either expanded or possibly moved from somewhere else. Anybody know?

Anyway, here's a link to the item if you're interested.

Technical Expertise

Okay, this is way off-topic but I could really use some advice from the knowledgeable folks who read this blog.

Long story short: I'm taking a little non-credit creative writing course and am working on a short story that includes an American military guy who divorces his Taiwanese wife, while still in Taiwan. In the story, the guy also gets custody of their two kids -- let's say they're maybe three or four years old. Let's say she did something really bad to lose the kids in a custody fight. Obviously this would have taken place somewhere between 1955 and 1979.

Two quick questions:

1. Would a divorce like this have been handled in a Taiwanese court or an American court, or would the government have just sent her (and/or him) back to the States?
2. Would there ever be a circumstance under which she could have lost the kids?

This is all fiction, so whatever I write becomes the reality. But it always bugs me to read a novel and see something that I know is just simply impossible, and I'd like to avoid that.

If anyone has a thought on this, either post it here or just drop me an email.

Thanks much,

Don

Sartor JSCM

I received this newspaper clipping today from Jim Sartor, who was a Yeoman 1st Class in USTDC's Intelligence branch. The article describes his award of the Joint Service Commendation Medal (JSCM) from Vice Admiral Beshany, who was Commander of USTDC at that time. You can get a better look at the article by clicking on it.

I was there around the same time as Jim, and it was my experience that the award of a JSCM to anyone below pay grade E-7 was not all that common. This was a pretty big deal. Congrats, Jim -- about 34 years after the fact!

NSA/CSS at TDC

In addition to the joint-service USTDC staff, the building also contained representatives from other agencies as well. I used to see some of those guys coming and going but I don't think I ever knew any of them very well.

One such outfit was NSA/CSS, where Dennis McNelis was assigned. He recently sent a photo of a paperweight from that outfit, along with some recollections about the office itself.

Below is a pic of a scan I took of the top of a paperweight. The pic depicts what was our office logo in Taipei, Taiwan at TDC. NSA/CSS stands for National Security Agency/Central Security Service. We use to give these paperweights out to guest that came into our office. This particular paperweight I found at my mothers house recently. I remember sending her this item back in 1973 and can't believe she held on to it. The paperweight is made of brass. I don't know how they etched the top with the colors. The actual paperweight is much nicer looking than the pic depicts. I believe we all remember how much good brass stuff one could buy in Taiwan. After all these years the paperweight still works - just tested it - still holds paper down on the desk!!!!

I use the word office to describe our group at TDC as we where really not a cohesive unit. NSA/CSS office was dominated and run by civilians. The number one man was a GS 15 or 16 civilian followed by a LT Cmdr Navy man. Then came approximately six GS 13 and 14 civilians with a civilian female secretary followed by a Navy Chief and last on the pecking order were three enlisted (1 Air Force and 2 Army guys). The military guys were there working for the NSA and the civilians. All the civilians were with the NSA. The Army guys came from the Army Security Agency (ASA). I cannot remember where the Navy guys or the Air Force guy came from but I do know it was some security unit in their respective service.

Dogs & Beer

Dennis McNelis comes through again, this time with absolute proof that one could enjoy a cold Bud with his hot dog on a rainy day in the Headquarters Support Activity East Compound.

No wonder so many people look back on Taipei as the perfect assignment!

By the way, I'm still looking for more photographs of the USTDC building, inside or out.

Naval Hospital Taipei

Somebody recently mentioned the Naval Hospital and I've been trying remember where it was located. I vaguely remember going there for immunizations and I think I may have gone there on one or two other occasions, but I can't even picture the place. The name NAMRU-2 seems to ring a bell for some reason.

Does anyone out there remember where it was?

More Dining In The Compound

Dennis McNelis has submitted information for this blog before and today he adds more info on the FASD Mess Hall and also the hot dog vendor who used to be in front of the Navy Exchange. Check out the pouring rain in the photo! Look familiar?

With regard to George Dean's posting "Dining In The Compound" Jan 12 2008 on the TDC Blog:

I remember the Foreign Affairs Service Division (FASD) Mess Hall in the East Compound very well. It was open during 1973 and as late as Nov 1974 when I was stationed at TDC. I ate there many times and drank a lot of ice tea as well. As George mentioned in his post the food wasn't bad and the convenience was great - walk out the back gate of TDC by the baseball field and you where there.

I knew two of the waitresses that worked there during 1973 and 1974. One was Casey and the other Cindy (Kim Kaw Yur). I dated Cindy throughout 1974. Casey married an Army guy who was stationed at HAS and the last time I saw her in 1978 they had one baby (I returned to Taipei as a civilian in 1978 working as a merchant mariner). I lost Cindy to an Air Force Guy from TAS whom she married in 1975 - my fault not hers (anyone have any info on Casey or Cindy please feel free to contact me at shiphorn1@msn.com).

If I recall correctly the food at the FASD Mess Hall was served on the military style silver trays. I do not remember much else about the food. I guess I was going just to flirt with the waitresses.

Here is a pic of the Hot Dog vendor and his cart in front of the Exchange in the East Compound. The hot dog cart was good for a quick lunch if you were shopping during your lunch hour. I remember that this Chinese gentleman also served chili dogs. The cart was operated by the Navy Exchange and the Chinese man was an employee. I remember him as being very nice and friendly.

Club 63 Patch

Just found this item listed on eBay (listing is HERE). I'm guessing that it's some sort of commemorative thing, maybe for a unit reunion or something. Has anyone seen this before?

***UPDATE***

After doing a little more digging, I discovered that this is just one of a large number of patches that someone makes and sells on eBay. There are active units, closed units, and a few like this one that have to do with military clubs. I'm not trying to promote the seller, but I just wanted to answer the question of where this one came from.

Speed Traps In Taipei

You may have noticed that there are headlines from the Taipei Times and the China Post, both Taiwan newspapers, to the right of this blog. Every now and then a headline grabs my attention, like the one in today's Post that announced Speed sensors to be disbanded.

What surprised me in the story wasn't that they decided to discontinue the use of sensors, but that they ever installed them in the first place. That just doesn't mesh with my recollection of Taipei traffic where the only thing approaching traffic control was a cop standing on a box in the middle of an intersection staring off into space -- a sort of elevated state of meditation, you might say.

The use of sensors was discontinued because they were determined to be inaccurate, but a police spokesman responded to that charge by saying, "...although Taiwan has no standard for speed-detection technologies, its underground sensors are all required to have been produced [by] certified Taiwan factories or other authorized facilities. This fact testifies to their accuracy in speed detection."

In other words, "They're accurate because we built them."

Selective Memory

One thing I'm discovering as I record some of these memories is how I seem to be able to recall some of the most insignificant things about my tour during 1973-1974, but I draw a complete blank on things such as the layouts of the various buildings like TDC, the bowling alley, the Navy Exchange, the Commissary, etc. I came across a good example of one of these Trivial Pursuit memories this evening.

My boss was an Army lieutenant colonel (that's Commander for all you Navy types out there). I remember quite a bit about him: his voice, his manner, his American and Taiwanese secretaries (Helen and ??), and how he had his office arranged.

But for some reason, what I remember most clearly is that he had this print hanging over his desk. I'm assuming he was an artillery officer at some point in his career and I guess I was just fascinated enough by this thing that it stuck in my memory. Don't ask me where I usually ate lunch over there, but I've always remembered that quote from Frederick the Great.