View from Quarters "A"

I've written at least a couple of articles about Quarters "A" where the Navy admirals resided during their assignments as Commander of the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command.  Pat Linder, the widow of Rear Admiral James Linder, the last USTDC Commander, wrote extensively about her experiences in the home in her excellent book "The Lady and the Tiger."

Taipei Scott, along with Larry Fields, who manages the USACC-Taiwan group on Facebook, recently visited the former Quarters "A" and Scott took this panoramic photo from the balcony of the building.  As I recall, the home overlooked the Shih Lin area.  You can click on the image to see a larger version.

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!

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.

BOT Housing Question

I've written several pieces about the Bank of Taiwan housing that was constructed to house American military families.  If you're interested in reading any of those, just enter "BOT housing" in the search box in the right-hand column.

I know that the Bank of Taiwan was the ROC agency chosen to build and run the housing areas, but I'm wondering who paid for all that construction.  Did the BOT pay for the construction or were United States funds used?  If you have personal knowledge of this subject, or any written documentation, I'd love to hear from you.

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

Civilian Employee Pamphlet

Just as at other military organizations around the world, Department of Defense civilians contributed greatly to the successful operation of USTDC.  In most cases, these folks were career civil servants who voluntarily relocated to Taiwan, bringing their families and household goods with them.

Moving to a new place is often a challenge, especially when that place is halfway around the world.  So in 1962, the Pacific Air Command (PACAF) published a pamphlet specifically for DOD civilians moving to Taiwan.  It was similar to the "Taiwan Report" brochure that USTDC published for incoming military personnel, but addressed some issues that were unique to civilian employees.


Scott in Taiwan was kind enough to provide me with images of every page from that document a while back.  I converted them to a single PDF (Adobe) document and I've made it available for download.  If you'd like to have a copy, just click HERE.

Taiwan Report - 1960s (Chapter 11)

Chapter 11 discusses the household help ("servants," as they're called here) that many of us hired during our time in Taiwan.  These included amahs (housekeepers), cooks, yardboys, houseboys, drivers or some combination of these.  Prices were reasonable and I think most of us were pleased with the work they did.

As I've mentioned several times previously, I lived in the FASD hostel that was located right next to the east compound so my needs were pretty simple.  I just needed someone to keep things spruced up and to keep an eye on the place when I was away.  There were several men who worked as houseboys there and each had his own set of rooms to maintain.  My guy made the bed, shined my shoes, dusted, swept, mopped and just generally tidied the place up every day.  He also replaced my drinking water jug when it was empty and did my laundry, but I paid extra for those things.

One morning while at work, I realized that I'd neglected to pick up a fairly substantial amount of money that was on the table in my room.  I hurried back during my lunch hour and found my room neat and clean as usual, and the pile of cash was sorted according to denomination and neatly stacked on the table.  I never worried about the safety of my possessions after that.

My next door neighbor at the hostel was an Air Force master sergeant who was very fastidious about his room.  I think he only hired a houseboy because it was sort of expected of us.  Anyway, he used to sort his bottles and cans of deodorant, soap, shampoo, aftershave, etc. on his vanity, with the tallest container to the left and the shortest to the right.  When he returned home from work he found them reversed, with the shortest to the left and the tallest to the right.  He and his houseboy played this game for several days before he finally made it clear how he wanted them arranged.  I thought it was hilarious and I have no doubt that wherever he is today, he still arranges his containers by height, left to right.

Taiwan Report - 1960s (Chapter 10)

Chapter ten discusses purchasing and preparing food, as well as tips on eating at local restaurants during the 1960s.  It also talks about the importance of drinking only water that had been properly treated.  When I was there in the 1970s, we drank only bottled water.  I did brush my teeth with tap water but never had a problem while I was there.

Food poisoning was not uncommon, even among those who had been stationed in Taiwan for extended periods.  I wrote earlier about a visit to Snake Alley with my friends Pete and his wife Peggy and several other folks.  Peggy was the only one in the group to eat  boiled squid in one of the restaurants and she paid a pretty severe price for a couple of days or so.

But for the most part, just using a little common sense allowed you to enjoy most anything without suffering any serious consequences.

More BOT Housing Photos

Scott thought these images of BOT housing would tie in well with my last post.   A couple of them have appeared here before but the rest are new.

Many thanks, Scott.

Bank of Taiwan (BOT) Housing Conversation

I received info copies of an email exchange between Les Duffin and Bill Thayer regarding the BOT housing where many U.S. military families resided.  I thought the content of their messages would be of interest to many of the folks who read this blog.  So here, with their permission, is a summary:

Les wrote:   Since I lived in a BOT house in Tien Mu from 1976 to 1978, I'll try to answer as many questions as I can.  I remember being told that, when the US military first came to Taiwan, there were few homes which were considered up to US standards.  For that reason an agreement was reached between the two governments to construct a number of houses to fill the need.  I don't know how BOT came to be the ROC agency chosen to build and run the housing compounds, but that was how things turned out.  BOT acted as landlord and maintained the homes.  I'm pretty sure we paid our monthly rent directly to BOT, but I'm not absolutely certain.  I do know there was a BOT maintenance office not far from where we lived and we needed only phone or walk over there when we had a problem; the local employees would take care of it, usually right away.

The US Navy's role was to parcel out the houses to those who wanted them.  A housing office in the HSA West Compound inspected and approved all private rentals and also assigned people to specific BOT houses.  Senior officers and NCOs usually received BOT houses immediately upon arrival, but all others had to apply if they wanted one.  You could sign up for either area, Tien Mu or Yang Ming Shan, or both.  When I arrived in 1975, I was told the waiting list was about 12-18 months long.  It turned out I was offered a house in exactly one year.  So we ended up living in a private rental for the first year, then moved when a BOT house became available.  During "normal" times, there were always more people who wanted BOT housing than there were available houses, but that changed later; when I left in summer of 1978 the declining numbers of US military personnel on island resulted in some houses actually sitting vacant.

The advantages of BOT homes over private rentals were several.  First, you paid only your BAQ [Basic Allowance for Quarters] in rent.  Private rentals were usually more expensive.  And the houses were large and comfortable, with electrical systems capable of handling the usual complement of appliances (including two or three window-mounted reverse-cycle air conditioners for heating and cooling).  Also, we were living in a community with a handy support structure: theater, bowling alley, little league baseball field, teen center, swimming pool, and a small Navy Exchange, all within easy walking distance.  Plus, some units or installations operated shuttle buses between home and work; if you rode the bus and lived in BOT housing, you could count on being picked up and dropped off very near your home.  That was not necessarily the case in a private rental.

I wish now I had kept my housing paperwork, but no such luck.

Here's an excerpt from the 1973 Taiwan Report, the newcomer's welcome guide ((ACO is Area Coordinating Office)):

The Bank of Taiwan manages 280 houses in the Taipei area.  This housing is offered by the cognizant ACO to military personnel on a point basis.  Points are determined by pay grade, number of dependents, time of arrival on Taiwan and other factors.  Personnel coming from unaccompanied tours or ships deployed in a combat zone are given extra points.

Officers in paygrade O-6 and enlisted personnel in paygrade E-9 are eligible for immediate assignment to BOT housing and may be placed on waiting lists by sponsors prior to arrival.

BOT rents are generally lower than private rentals of comparable size with rates varying from $70-$100 per month for wood frame houses and from $100-$125 per month for masonry homes.  A waiting period of 4 to 6 months is usual for personnel other than O-6 or E-9 desiring assignment to BOT housing.

Application for BOT housing should be submitted as soon as possible after arrival on Taiwan since eligibility is determined by placement on a housing list maintained by the housing office.  This does not obligate the acceptance of BOT housing.

As a general rule, BOT houses are older and receive a slightly lower level of maintenance than private rental housing."

As I said, we thought the level of maintenance was actually better than we experienced in private rentals.  And the waiting period was actually much longer than the booklet predicted, at least when we arrived in 1975.  And I’ve attached a couple photos to give you an idea of what our house looked like.  It was half a duplex, which was the norm except for really senior folks.

Bill replied:  We lived in BOT housing in Tien Mou from February, 1973 until December, 1977. I was assigned to the US Army Communications Command in Taipei, but was the personnel officer and ran the personnel office for all the Army personnel in Taiwan during that period. Can't add much to what Les had to say, except that I don't recall having to wait very long after arrival for BOT quarters.

One of things that I particularly liked was the size of our backyard, which was large enough for my kids to practice baseball. I coached little league and my sons all played on the teams I coached. One of my sons was a pitcher and the backyard was large enough for him to practice pitching with myself as catcher. Coaching little league was my attempt to reestablish myself as head of the family and father figure since I had just finished my second tour in Vietnam, second RVN tour in a three year period.

Another thing that I liked was the proximity to the ball field right across the main street in Tien Mou. It was used mainly as a T-ball field, but as the kids grew older our practices and games moved to the ball field close by the Naval Hospital.

Don has some pretty good photos and  commentary on BOT housing at his USTDC website.

http://ustdc.blogspot.com/2008/08/tien-mou-housing.html

http://ustdc.blogspot.com/2010/03/more-tien-mou-housing-photos.html    

Les Replied:  Funny thing about that, I also coached little league for the two years we lived in BOT housing.  T-ball, actually.  There was a batting cage near the baseball field and I remember throwing lots of batting practice there.

I would guess your short waiting time for housing was because you were coming from a remote tour.  That was supposed to carry a lot of weight in deciding where you were placed on the waiting list.  But I must confess I never understood the other weighting factors like rank and time on island.  How points were assigned for each of those was always a mystery to me, maybe because that’s the way the housing office wanted it.

Bill replied:  Les, the fact that I was coming from Vietnam may have had something to do with what seemed to be a rapid assignment of BOT quarters. I am unclear and now foggy on what the criteria was for assignment of BOT housing. It seems to me that Temporary Lodging Allowance (TLA) was also a factor, i.e. minimizing the period in which a person received TLA by staying in a hotel or guest house. I know that TLA minimizing was a factor upon departure, because I used to have to review and process receipts and inevitably, we had some people inflating, duplicating, or attempting fraud in order to maximize the amount of TLA.

As to little league, I had only one son that played T-ball for one year. The other two older sons played on teams that used the larger field close to the Navy hospital. The guy that lived in back of me, Air Force Master Sergeant McGregor, and I teamed up to coach. We got draft preference on our four kids, two of whom could pitch and play any position, and we drafted one more who was a pitcher, infielder and home run hitter. So we ended up with three pitchers two of whom could play catcher and the left side of the diamond was completely covered. Our best season was when we ended up with a 21 and 4 record.

We played a couple of the Chinese teams that so dominated the Little League World Series in those days. We never won against them, but we came closer than some of the teams that played them at Williamsport. At the start of the season, the league coaches all got together and because we were prohibited from going to the World Series, we set our own rules. Little League rules barred any overseas American teams from playing in the little league world series in which the host country was playing. Some of the rules we developed and used: unlimited practice, seven inning games.

Les replied: I had a much less satisfying coaching “career.”  My elder son was signed up for T-ball and ended up on a team sponsored by Citibank.  A Citibank official who had years of coaching experience was head coach and I was supposed to be one of his assistants – easy enough.  Except that right before the first game, he had a family medical emergency and departed for the States.  So of course my fellow assistants voted that I should take over.  We had a pretty poor team and seldom won.  The next year my son graduated to little league and I coached the T-ball team one more time.  The little league games used both the field in the housing area and the one near the hospital, and I think I remember some T-ball games near the hospital as well.

More Memories

A few days ago I received a very nice note from Allen Rawden, who was at TDC during 1976-1978. He wrote:

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Fell into your USTDC blog and have spent the better part of the day there.  I was stationed at USTDC/SPINTCOMM from June of 76 to September of 78. During 20 years in the Navy, my best tour. Not even a contest.

I first lived in the Hostel near the Chung Shan Bei-Lu gate. Then moved to Tien-Mou for a brief time and finally to an apartment in the night club area south of the east compound. ;And no, I'm not going to try to spell the name of that area...

I too did not take many photos, none of TDC itself. I guess, being a CT, we were no in the habit of taking photos of work. In fact I have none of any duty station for my 20 years. Back to Taiwan....

I still have the brass bell given at my going away ceremony, my nametag, the command plague (which is in VERY bad condition)and my Chinese-American Friendship medal (And yes, Navy were authorized to "retain and wear" this ribbon as long as your request was submitted and approved by CINCPACFLT....and yes, I still have the paper work on that.

During the early 90's I was stationed at Pensacola. Also there was my Tien Mou room mate who had worked in the maintenance shop. We were having a personal inspection and the Captain had stopped at John (CTM1 Hodgdin), and stared for quite awhile at the thing. He didn't say anything, but then he got to me about 10 people further down the line. That's when he said, "OKAY, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING??" And yes, that afternoon I was getting a copy of my service record entry for the Command Master Chief.

Anyway, again thanks for the great blog and the rush of nothing but good memories.

Then CTOSN/3 Allen Dean Rawdon

Allen also included this scan of his typhoon card from back in the day.  The reverse side was written in Chinese and we were required to carry them in case we ever had to drive during typhoons.  I only recall driving one time in Taipei and that's when I had to drive a TDC van up to the radio station and back during a typhoon.  What with the pouring rain, high winds, Taipei traffic, no experience driving on the streets of Taipei and driving a panel van, I can tell you it was very interesting!

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.

 

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.)   

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）.

Quarters "A" Interior Photos

Last September I wrote about Quarters A, the official residence of the admirals who commanded the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command.   Patricia Linder's husband, RADM James Linder, was the last USTDC Commander and she wrote extensively about the place in her excellent book, "The Lady and the Tiger."

Mrs. Linder has kindly provided these great photographs showing the interior of the house as it appeared during the late 1970s.  She wrote, "As the wife of the TDC Commander, I was privileged to live in Quarters A on Yangmingshan Mountain.  Not only was it architecturally beautiful, it provided the warmth of a real home.  Good friendships were formed during the many dinners that characterized the social aspect of my husband's command of TDC.  We left with cherished memories."

This last photo shows Hogo (the quarters houseboy) and a guard standing at the entrance gate to the residence.

Bill Kling Memories

Some time ago I received a note from Bill Kling, who spent a lot of time in Taiwan during the 1970s.  He described his experiences in some detail and I'm pleased to post some of those comments here today.  Any errors or omissions are mine.

I first heard of Taipei when I was in Vietnam.  In March of 1971, I asked for Sydney, Australia, for my R and R (Rest and Recuperation) leave.  However, my orders came back for a week in Taipei, Taiwan, instead.  I was not happy, but since it was time away from Vietnam and my buddy got the same orders, I decided to go.  While on R and R I met some other GIs and they convinced me that I should try to get assigned to Grass Mountain Tech Control.

During that R and R I remember frequenting the Sea Dragon and 63 Clubs run by MAAG and really enjoyed myself.  I played golf at Tamsui, visited Green Lake, Wulai and generally left the island happy that the Army redirected my R&R to Taipei.

After my Vietnam tour I returned to the States.  Then one day I was told I would be on orders soon and it was suggested that I fill out a “dream sheet’ to improve my chances of a good assignment.  Of course I asked for Taiwan, Hawaii or Thailand,  and of course everyone laughed at me and said, “No one ever reads those things.”  In about a month I got orders for Taiwan -- very lucky for a young, married E-5 to get an accompanied, overseas assignment.

After receiving letters from my sponsor, I packed and shipped my furniture and away we flew to Seattle-Tacoma (Sea-Tac) airport to take a military charter flight to Sung Shan Air Base.  I got lucky at Sea-Tac as I met the Command Sergeant Major from MAAG who was returning from leave.  He was in charge of the 63 Club.  I do not remember his name now, but we ended up becoming good friends.  He helped me get into Bank of Taiwan housing in sixty days when the waiting list was normally nine months.  He  showed me how to manage my moving while living in a guest house upon arrival on the island.  My sponsor put me in the Formosa Guest House at what we thought was a good rate, however I was moved to the Taiwan Guest House, a bigger place and one third cheaper.

My next challenge was to buy a car, but I didn’t have much money.  I had to decide between a very small new car called a Daihatsu, or buy a used one from someone who was leaving Taiwan.  Two friends and I decided to buy the new one.  After two months on the island, I had a Chinese identification card, Chinese drivers license, ration cards for liquor and the PX and had been assigned a shift at Grass Mountain Tech Control.

I began taking college courses from the University of Maryland in September 1973 and took two courses per semester during my remaining time on Taiwan.  I'm not sure how I had time for all of this but I also joined a bowling team and played for the Grass Mountain “Outlaws” softball team.

During 1974 and until August 1975 in addition to my work, schooling, and sports some of the many highlights included being part of a Dragon Dance team, Chinese Dragon boat team, seeing a “Double Ten" nighttime celebration and a very large July 4^th fireworks display at Taipei American school.  I took trips to Seoul, Korea, Clark Air Base in the Philippines, and I also volunteered to go to Vietnam to assist in communications support during the last days of our involvement there during March/April 1975.

But it was time to leave and I was extended for operational needs two months beyond the normal tour.  Our last several months consisted of learning what a “chop man” was, buying teakwood furniture, buying carpets, handicrafts, and saying good bye to the many American and Chinese friends we made during that time. I am still in contact with the family that ran the first guest house we stayed in when we arrived on the island.

So during by Taipei tour I got promoted to E-6, accumulated two years of college credits, a house full of furniture, put some money in the bank, and made new friends.  But now I was leaving for Ft. Huachuca, Arizona wondering what this assignment would bring.

After a year or so back in the States, I went to the USACC personnel department to see if I could get reassigned.  Again, I was very fortunate as the personnel sergeant was my former supervisor from Vietnam.  I asked him to find me an assignment where I could use my skills, of course asking for only the most popular locations and he said he would see what he could do.  Well, to my surprise, about a month later I called in to my company First Sergeant who wanted to know what friends I had in high places.  He then told me that I had been assigned back to USACC Taiwan.  With the troop level being reduced  to only a few hundred personnel how lucky was this for me?

In January 1977 I was headed back to the island I knew so well.  I could tell as soon as I arrived that things had changed.  Instead of over 7,000  U. S. military on Taiwan there were now less than 1,500.  There was no waiting list for Bank of Taiwan Housing, plenty of appliances to buy in the PX, the China Seas Club was never crowded, and the education center had reduced the number of classes they offered.  When I arrived at the Grass Mountain facility I was now a trick chief, but instead of 6 or 7 on a shift there was only 3.  While being very glad to be back, there was a sad feeling that only grew during my tour.

The good times with good friends were still there but the small things gradually changed the atmosphere.  Some of the changes were the morning briefing to the Commander of USACC was now done by voice order wire, not in person; the detachment at Grass Mountain moved downtown to the HSA compound; the Autovon switch was deactivated and shipped to Okinawa; the hours of the snack bar and PX were reduced; the Tien Mou swimming pool was empty;  I could go on and on.

By June of 1977 we were training local nationals to do the job previously performed by USACC.  This was difficult as I trained locals in Vietnam before we there in 1972.  I couldn’t help making the comparison.  I still think of Mr. Chen, Mr. Wu, and Mike Chiang often.  Many of my Chinese friends were now asking, When are ALL of you leaving,?  I just laughed it off saying that we will always be here, but the United States is reducing forces across Asia.

The tour continued as we accomplished our mission with fewer personnel.  We had a typhoon and an earthquake in 1977.  That, combined with a major submarine cable cut to Okinawa, made for a very fast year.

By the time 1978 rolled around our local national friends were doing the bulk of our work.  The Defense Communications Agency reduced our reporting requirements from every 8 hours to every 24 hours.  We really felt the end was near, as the amount of our normal work was greatly reduced.  We now disconnected equipment and packed it up to be shipped off the island.  It was now an effort to get enough guys to complete our softball teams, Shu Linkou Air Station was closed, Taipei Air Station was in caretaker status, and by July 1978 USACC was down to approximately 150 personnel.  Still, life went on.  I still went to the Tien Mou Mongolian Barbecue regularly, got video tapes to watch on my Sony Betamax, and of course I continued on with school.

In January 1979, we were living in the guest house and were concerned about riots and protests.  A friend had his car burned at the China Seas Club, another friend was attacked, but fortunately he just got a few bumps and bruises.  We were very cautious, but in a few days things calmed down.  Most of us now shared rides to work, or took a military shuttle.  I thought after all these years that the good duty stations were all going away.  Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Iran, and Ethiopia all closed for Tech Control personnel.  I was feted to a going away party by a few close military and Chinese friends. So, finally  my family and I left via the new CKS airport on January 28, 1979 and a few close Taiwanese families came to see us off.

Some time after I arrived at Ft. Huachuca (Arizona), I was told to report to a colonel who had a project for me:  I was to help coordinate the final departure of men and equipment from Taiwan.  It was an exciting and easy job.  I helped whenever there was information concerning disposition of equipment, assisted other solders if they had problems with assignments, household goods, etc.  I think we left Taiwan around April 28, 1979 and I left the Army on May 10, 1979.

Somehow Taiwan and I were destined to be linked.  It is truly amazing to me to realize that from 1971-79 Taiwan played such a major role in my life. To this day I still have USACC and Chinese friends from 30 years ago.   I have been back to the island three times since then, always on business, with the last trip in 2003.

Current Yangmingshan Housing Photos

Scott has posted several great photos of the former Yangmingshan American military C-Area housing units.  Click HERE to view the images.

**Updated** 1969 Satellite Photo of Yangmingshan

LTC Scott Ellinger annotated the 1969 satellite image that I posted a couple of days ago to show the locations of the housing areas, the US Naval Hospital and "Quarters A," the home of the Commander, US Taiwan Defense Command (COMUSTDC).

1969 Satellite Photo of Yangmingshan

The author of the TaiwanAirPower.org website sent me a 1969 American CORONA satellite image of the Yangmingshan area that may be helpful for visualizing where things were once located.  Click on the image to view a much larger version.