Selling Vehicles in Taipei

I received a note from Sarj Bloom a few days ago describing how he went about selling his car in Taipei. 

Some time ago someone posted a note about not being able to sell your car in Taiwan. I sold mine and still have the MAAG form used for the contract.  In August of 1961 while on leave I bought a 1957 Chevy in Ohio and drove it to California knowing that the Navy would transport it to Taiwan for me.

My car arrived about a month after I did (Oct '61).  The day it arrived I was told I could sell it for $1,500.00 US easy, but I would have to wait for [reassignment] orders first. I wasn't interested in selling it until I was supposed to leave in Oct. of '62 so I did nothing.

In Oct. of 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis happened and I volunteered to extend at TDC for another year. I had already written a contract with a local for the sale of my car upon orders to transfer. 

Well, when I extended my tour, this poor guy, who thought he would get the car in a month or so, was told he would have to wait another year.  He was very upset but I didn't plan it and my hands were tied.

So the story goes that in 1961 I paid $900 for a great car, drove it across the country and all over Taiwan for 2 years, and still got $650 for it.

Prosecution of US Military in Taiwan

Yesterday I posted an index page with links to the on-line, declassified CINCPAC history files. These are all documents that were requested by the Nautilus Group under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and there is enough material to keep any history junkie busy for a very long time.

Back in November, 2007, I wrote a series of pieces about the events leading up to the complete withdrawal of US Forces from Taiwan. Most of that information came from another declassified CINCPAC document that I had requested, and one of my postings mentioned the disposition of two military personnel and two dependents who were incarcerated in ROC prisons during the withdrawal.

John Quinn alerted me to a section of the 1971 CINCPAC history that discusses the prosecution of six US military members for crimes committed in Taiwan. You can find detailed accounts of those cases in the 1971 CINCPAC History file, beginning on page 571 and ending on page 576. When you open the document, you'll see two boxes at the top of your Adobe Reader that read "1/756" which means that you're viewing page 1 of 756 total pages in the document. Replace the 1 with 603 and you'll go directly to the printed page 571. You can scroll down from there.

What I found most interesting in all this was on page 607 (575). It states that three individuals named Eaton, Baio and Tipton were the first US military personnel ever incarcerated in Taiwan. I assume that prior to these cases, individuals were tried in military courts and were returned to the States, sentenced to military confinement, or both.

Status of Native Taiwan People

Back in August I wrote a little piece about the tribes of Taiwan, including a comment that the native people may have a more legitimate claim to the island than anyone else.

I just received a very interesting email from Richard Hartzell regarding a court case, "Roger C. S. Lin et. al. v. United States of America," that was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on November 3, 2008.

As Richard explains, "This court case is arguing that the native inhabitants of the Taiwan, currently under the jurisdiction of the "Republic of China" cannot be correctly classified as ROC citizens or as having any sort of Chinese nationality. There are no legal documents which can prove that Taiwan is a part of China."

Back in the days when we were all stationed on Taiwan, we were mostly concerned about helping the "good" Chinese (ROC) defend themselves against the "bad" Chinese (PROC). This case, however, raises some fascinating legal points about the status of the native people of the island (as well as the island itself) and I'm eager to see how the court responds.

For more details on this case, follow these links:

http://www.civil-taiwan.org/usca.htm
http://www.taiwanadvice.com/prcutai3.htm
http://www.taiwankey.net/dc/milgovend6.htm

Marriage in Taipei

Sarj Bloom got married during his TDC tour and he recently sent me a photo of his marriage certificate, along with a few comments:

It wasn't easy getting married in Taiwan -- tons and tons of paperwork.

We got married in the chapel in the compound in the morning and then we went downtown to City Hall and got married at the Chinese court. You can see the signature of the American Consulate representative on the certificate.

There were about six couples getting married and I was the only American. There was no rehearsal and near the end of the ceremony we were told to bow to the judge, then turn around and bow to the people in the court, and then bow to our spouse.

Well, I got a big laugh because I got disoriented and I bowed to the back of the woman on the other side of me. I was embarrassed for a short time.

I know how you felt, Sarj. After I retired from the Air Force, my job required that I travel to many parts of the world and I was always very sensitive to local customs and tried hard not to be The Ugly American. I think I was successful most of the time, but probably made more mistakes than I was aware of at the time.

SOFA, Customs and Identification

These pages are from Chapter 5 of "Taiwan Report," the 1973 publication that was mailed to incoming personnel. Click on any of the images for a larger version.

This chapter discusses the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which is an agreement between a country and a foreign nation stationing military forces in that country. Most nations that have military personnel stationed in other countries have these agreements.

Also discussed in this chapter are customs rules and identification requirements for military personnel who were stationed in Taiwan.




I just remembered that my wallet seemed pretty thick in those days. With all of those identification cards and maybe a couple of hundred $NT, it's no wonder!

Maxing Out Ration Cards

I had a nice note from Steve Segall a few days ago. Steve was assigned to USACC from 1974 to 1976 and he had a humorous story to tell about the Embassy Shop piece I wrote back in August:

I enjoy reading your website with stories and photos of Taiwan. I was stationed with the Army and worked out of the USACC Headquarters at the HSA compound in Taipei from June 1974 to June 1976. Bill Thayer was in charge of Personnel at the time and a wonderful and wise fellow he was.

I unfortunately got hooked up with a young lady who took my Embassy Shop card, bought expensive liquor, and sold it for many times the amount on the black market. She also maxed out my cigarette rations. I didn't realize what was going on until Colonel Ashby and the Sergeant Major checked ration cards during a troop formation and noticed that mine were maxed out. I should mention that I neither smoked nor drank.

The Colonel ordered the Sergeant Major to have me see the Alcohol Abuse Sergeant at headquarters every week to be swayed from my wayward ways. I would go every week and deny that I ever drank alcohol and every week the sergeant would tell me that I must admit my drinking problem.

I enjoy telling the story about my alcohol abuse classes to friends and family members since they know I never indulged.

Steve Segall USACC TDC and TME Microwave 1974-1976

Great story, Steve! Thanks for sharing it. I rarely used my liquor ration card, but I'll bet there were a lot of other guys who found themselves in situations similar to yours.

Chinese ID

I remember that my wallet was always way too thick when I was at USTDC because I carried all of my American ID stuff, along with a Chinese ID and Chinese drivers license as well. It seems to me that there was at least one other document, but I don't know what it was. Add to that all of the New Taiwan dollar (NT) notes (at a 40 to 1 ratio in those days, vs. 30 to 1 today), and it made for a cumbersome carry.

Sarj bloom sent me a photo of his Chinese drivers license and ID card, which are shown here. I think by the time I arrived at TDC in 1973, my Chinese drivers license was just a single card, not the several pages that make up this one.

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