Hacked Again

Several individuals who were on the contact list of my USTDC Yahoo email account received bogus emails today due to someone with an ISP in Poland hacking the account.  The emails contained only a link to another website.  This is the second time over the years that this has happened.  I thought I had sufficient safeguards in place to keep it from happening again, but apparently not.

If you were one of those who received the bogus email,  I apologize for the inconvenience.  I never send emails with just a link in them without also explaining why I'm sending it and what the link is about.

I have taken several steps to ensure that this doesn't happen again, but in today's world there are no  guarantees, unfortunately.

USTDC Group on Facebook

I once set up a Yahoo group for TDC, thinking that it might make it easier for back-and-forth discussions among us Taiwan vets.  It never really took off, so I closed it a couple of years ago.  However, I recently set up a US Taiwan Defense Command group on Facebook, since so many people already have a Facebook account. 

Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/groups/181370945250687 and post whatever's on your mind.  If you don't have a facebook account, it's easy (and free) to join.  Just go to www.facebook.com.

SPAM ALERT!

During the past few days, I have been made aware of numerous SPAM messages that appear to be coming from my email address (ustdc [at] yahoo.com).  They are not coming from me.  I've been receiving the same emails.

The messages all have attachments, probably virus-infected, and some of them also have links, probably to malicious websites.

I understand that bogus emails like these usually come from a virus-infected computer -- in this case one that has my email address in its owner's email address book.  It then sends emails to everyone else in that address book.  If you do not have a CURRENT anti-virus program with up-to-date virus definitions on your computer, these messages could easily be coming from you.  Please check it out to be sure.

If you receive an actual email from me, the text will always include your name and it will always be regarding something specific that both you and I know about.  If you receive anything else that seems to be coming from me, just delete it.

 [ADDED]

My anti-virus program constantly protects and scans my hard drive.  Just to be sure these messages weren't coming from me, I just ran a complete scan of the entire drive.  There were no viruses or trojans found.  I have also changed my Yahoo! mail password just in case.  Once again, these bogus emails are not coming from me.

Call for Interviews

I received a note today from Derek Sheridan, a graduate student at the University of Chicago whose research concerns the American presence in Taiwan during the cold war.  He is particularly interested in the kinds of day-to-day interactions between American military, diplomatic officials and Taiwanese society during that time.

If you think you might like to participate in this project, or if you have any questions about it, send an email to Derek at: derekrandallsheridan@gmail.com.

And Away We Went

Since I first created this blog, I've posted several pieces about the withdrawal of American military personnel and their families from Taiwan.  Some of those articles had to do with the immediate aftermath of President Carter's announcement of the withdrawal, including the demonstrations that took place in the Taipei area, and the "nuts and bolts" of the whole withdrawal process.

Bill Kling has suggested that it might be interesting for many of us to know what the departure meant on a personal level for those who were there.  I know that at least a few readers were there at (or near) the end and I'd very much like to hear from you.  Because those comments could be rather lengthy, I think it would be better for me to post them, rather than just having you use the comments section of this piece.   Of course each article would likely draw its own comments and that's fine.  Just send me an email at the address shown toward the upper-right of this page.



Here are a few ideas that Bill and I came up with to get you started:

• What facilities in the compounds were still open and which had already closed?
• When did the China Seas and Linkou Annex clubs close?  Did they offer full service up to the end?
• Where did everyone stay during the last month or so, including those living in the hostel?
• Did you and your family feel at all threatened or uncomfortable as you moved about the city?
• Were any facilities looted that you're aware of?
• How was your relationship with your amah, yard man, houseboy, etc., after the announcement?
• Did you dispose of your appliances, car, etc., before departing?
• What do you remember about AFNT and the changeover to ICRT?
• When did the hospital close and how did that affect you?
• Did local merchants (furniture makers, etc.) offer any special deals to those leaving?
• Did the Navy Exchange and Commissary offer any special deals?
• What was your feeling as you went to the airport and boarded your flight?

I'm sure there are probably dozens of other questions I haven't even considered, but these should get you started.  I'd really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to put your memories into words and send them to me.  It must have been a difficult time for all concerned and I'd very much like to record your stories about it.

Facing China

From time to time I add or remove links to Taiwan-related blogs and websites of note.  The current batch is listed in the right-hand column under "Taiwan-Related Blogs" and "Taiwan Links of Interest."

I recently added a new blog called "Facing China -- Thoughts on Asia-Pacific Security from Taiwan."  The author is Tron, who is a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps currently studying for a master’s degree in international relations at a university in southern Taiwan.

Tron's most recent piece is about an upcoming exhibit at the Kaohsiung Museum of History that will be about the American presence in Southern Taiwan from 1950 – 1980.  This is the same exhibit I mentioned in my February 1st article.

I'm looking forward to reading more from the Facing China blog by an American military type presently living in Taiwan.

Help!

Spammers

I've recently had problems with spammers adding totally unrelated comments to the posts here -- usually links to their own websites where they want to rip you off.  I've been deleting them as soon as I spot them.

To end this nonsense, I've changed the settings so that all comments have to be cleared by me before they're displayed.  I've hesitated doing this but it's reached the point where I really don't have any choice.  Those who prefer to post anonymous comments can continue to do so, though I'd appreciate it if you would at least use a screen name.

I check in here at least three or four times a day so your comments should appear fairly quickly.  I'm really sorry that this inconvenience has become necessary.

Thanks,

Don

Taiwan Report -- 1963-64 Version

A few days ago, someone had the winning bid on eBay for a 1963-64 edition of Taiwan Report, the brochure that was sent to American military folks being assigned to Taipei.

If the winner would be interested in sharing that brochure with the rest of us, I'd be pleased to post it here, as I did with the 1973 edition that Les Duffin was kind enough to scan and send.

If you're out there and if you're so inclined, just drop me a note at the email address at the top right of this page.

I'd also like to hear from all who have stories or photos that they'd like to share with other readers of this blog. I've been writing here for approximately twice as long as I actually spent at USTDC. Needless to say, I ran out of new things to write about some time ago. In fact, most of what's here has come from many of you. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all your help in filling in so many historical blanks about the place.

Even if I didn't write another word, I guess I'd be satisfied with just leaving the blog as it is today for as many years as the good folks at Blogger will allow it. My objective from the beginning was to record at least some history of USTDC, especially from the standpoint of those who served there, and make it available to the general public. I think that in many ways that objective has been reached or exceeded.

But at the same time, I'm sure that there are still many untold stories floating around out there. How about taking a few minutes to send me yours?

Time Out

I'm going to be out of town for a few days for one of the following purposes:

• Piloting the space shuttle
• Slipping back and forth across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border
• Dancing in Swan Lake
• Traveling halfway across the country to spoil the grandkids

See you in a few days.

Don

TDY/TAD Trip

I'm going to be out of town for about a week, which is why I posted more than the usual number of items during the past couple of days. I'll be checking in from time to time, whenever the wife and I aren't busy spoiling the grandkids, but probably won't be posting any new stuff until we return home.

In the meantime, feel free to add comments to anything here and if you have more photos or narratives, please continue emailing them to me and I'll start sorting them out when I return.

Once again, thanks to everyone for all the great material that you've submitted over the past few months. Less than a year ago I was concerned that all memory of USTDC and the area around it would disappear. I think we're assembling a great archive here that should be around for a good long time.

See you in a few days.

Don

A Little Administrative Business

When you comment on any of the postings on this blog, you're free to write anonymously.

However, if you register when you post, then you can opt to automatically receive an email notification from Blogger.com whenever anyone else comments on that same post.

Because I own the blog, I'm notified when anyone writes a comment, no matter how old my original posting is. That's very helpful to me because a significant number of comments are made on things that I wrote several weeks or months ago.

Nobody, including me, ever sees your actual email address when you're a registered user.

One other thing: At the top of this blog is a search box. If you're looking for postings on any subject, just type in a key word or phrase and you'll be shown all postings that meet your search criteria. Also, every posting that I've made has one or more labels associated with it. You'll find a complete list of all those labels in the right-hand column, along with the number of postings.