Key Personnel - 1975

Glenn in Taipei recently sent me some listings of United States key personnel working in Taipei, including those at USTDC and MAAG.   These were published by The China News, which was Taiwan's first English paper (1949 or 1950), and which was followed by the China Post.

This is a portion of the listing for 1975 that names key personnel at USTDC, MAAG, NAMRU-2 and a few others.  Click on the images to magnify them.

The Main Gate

During 2008, United Tian Mu monthly magazine published a story about Charlie Hoppe, who was a 22 year old Intelligence Officer when he arrived at USTDC in 1956.  He and his wife returned to Taipei in 2008 for a visit and he brought the photo shown below with him.  Charlie took the photo in 1957 and it shows the gate at the entrance of TDC as it appeared at that time.  Below that is a photo of the gate as it appeared during my tour in 1973-74.  Just to the left of these gates was Hsinsheng North Road.

Many thanks to Ken A. (Linkou vet) and Les D. for providing these images.

CCK Film Clip

My friend Klaus pointed me to this short YouTube video (narrated in German) of some American pilots and aircraft at Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in 1976.



I believe that the F-4 fighter aircraft were probably detached from Kadena Air Base on Okinawa.

MAAG -- The Big Picture

A big salute goes to LTC Scott Ellinger for locating this film from the 1950s television series, "The Big Picture."  It runs about 28 minutes and describes the early efforts of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in training the Nationalist forces on Taiwan.  If you are unable to view it, click HERE to visit the website.