Taipei Area Sports Car Club

Jim Sartor just alerted me to a great collection of photographs of a gathering of the Taipei Area Sports Car Club (TASCC).  The photos were taken during 1972 by Roger Inman and show several of the members' cars.  Jim says that the red 240Z was his.  By the way, Roger maintains the Shu Linkou Air Station website.

Back in 2009 I wrote about the time I rode to a meeting of the TASCC with my office mate, John Cranford, who was a member of the club.   John also drove a 240Z (like the wind!) and I believe it was burgundy in color.  I posted a short film clip that I took at the time.  I think it was probably taken a year or so after Roger's pictures.

R&R in Taipei

Thanks to Bill T. for sending me this 1967 news article:

At dawn and around dusk every day for weeks, two big Pan-American World Airways planes have been arriving at Taipei Airport, bringing war weary United States Servicemen from Vietnam.

After a quick passage through Chinese customs and immigration, the Americans board military buses and speed to Taipei.  In the city, at a military reception area called the Sea Dragon Club, they get a brief talk on local customs, exchange some United States dollars for local currency and disperse to hotels of their choice.

Thereafter they are on their own in this city of 1.5 million for five days of rest and recreation.  R and R, as it has come to be called, at a destination of his choice outside of Vietnam has become a perquisite of every American military man in Vietnam once during his tour there.

When Americans in groups from Vietnam complete their five days they assemble again at the Sea Dragon Club for the trip back to the war.

From a small beginning two years ago, the program has grown to a total of some 5,000 Americans every month, a figure that reflects not only the American military build-up in Vietnam but also the growing popularity of Taipei as a leave city.

It now ranks third, just behind Bangkok and Honolulu, as a center for Americans in Vietnam.  They like it because it has good hotel and recreation facilities, the people are friendly, the climate is cool, the shopping is reasonably good and the post exchanges offer most of the facilities a soldier wishes for.

The Americans from Vietnam do much of their buying at post exchanges, but it is estimated each man spends an average of an additional $185, a figure that gives Nationalist China a monthly income of about one million dollars from the military visitors at the present rate of arrivals.

The program here is part of the American presence on Taiwan, which grows steadily despite the tapering off of United States military aid to Nationalist China and the decline in American military advisers and aid specialists.

Because of the war, there is also a major logistical operation at the Ching Chuan Kang air base, some 200 miles south of here.  C.C.K., as the base is called, has become the biggest permanent United States military installation on Taiwan, with more than 4,000 men.

Transport planes and storage facilities provide air logistical support to United States military units throughout the Western Pacific area.

There are no United States combat units on Taiwan, but the United States Military Assistance Advisory Group, and the Taiwan Defense Command, a United States planning and housekeeping agency, account for about 9,000 Americans.

Some 13,000 American military men and their dependents and civilian Americans and their dependents in United States Government and private employment, account for an American community that has grown to roughly 27,000.

Most are concentrated in Taipei, and the outlook here is for still further growth.  Housing is being prepared for approximately 250 wives and other dependents of civilians engaged in the economic aid and rehabilitation program in Vietnam.

Taiwan is regarded as a friendly haven in which families barred from living in Vietnam can locate near enough to permit occasional reunions.

Already the Taipei American School, with an enrollment of more than 2,000, is the largest of its kind overseas and seems destined to grow.  Four other schools here and at cities farther south take in more than a thousand additional American youngsters.

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.

Taipei Volunteer Fire Department

Jim Sartor, a frequent contributor to this blog over the years, worked in J-22 (Op Center) at USTDC from 1968 to 1972.

Some time ago Jim asked me if I'd ever heard of the Taipei Volunteer Fire Department, a social organization that he belonged to during his tour in Taipei.  I'd never heard of it, but Jim recently discovered that they're still around, and have been since 1955.  You can find their website HERE.

Sounds like a fun group.  Anyone else here who remembers them?

Larry Fields Memories

One of the purposes of this blog is to provide a platform for others to talk about their assignments in Taiwan.  I recently heard from Larry Fields, who was with US Army Stratcom Taiwan from 1977 to 1979.  Though he wasn't assigned to USTDC, many of his memories are familiar to those of us who were.

We arrived in Taiwan on 12/09/1977 and I was one of the last USAStratcom members to be assigned to the island (maybe even the last one).  We stayed in a guest house located outside the back gate of the West Compound.  It was a nice enough place but I was glad to get into a house.

We moved into our house on Super Bowl Sunday (Monday in Taiwan) when the Broncos played Dallas and lost 27-10.  I had a small radio that I unpacked first thing so I could listen to the game while we unpacked (I was a Denver fan, and I ended up living here in Denver for the last 28 years).

We lived in Tien Mou , originally in the old BOT housing that was off of the circle at the end of Chungshan Bei Lu.  I’ve seen some pictures of an older house called the “White House” in Tien Mou and that may be the house I lived in.  It was in that area across the street from an orphanage.  We lived there for about 6 months then moved to the newer BOT housing that was down by the movie theater and ball fields, where the new Taipei American School is now.

We went through one major typhoon while we were there.  I had to drive up to work, stayed for about 30 minutes, then they told us to go home.  I had to give another member a ride down to the compound, and on my way home a lot of the streets were flooded so it took me a while to wind my way around the streets.

We also had earthquakes, one that did a lot of damage.  If I remember right, it killed six or seven people.  A new building being constructed by my house caught fire and was burned pretty badly. I don’t remember if it collapsed or not. Earthquakes were a way of life there as we all know.

We had a couple of Amahs; I still have pictures of them, but over the years we lost contact with them.

Like a lot of others I stocked up on teakwood furniture (some that I still have), some

rattan furniture, lots of fishbone carvings (still have those too), some marble pieces, and some pottery from Kinmen (which I think you could only get at certain times from one place in Tien Mou).  The fishbone we got from a Chinese guy who was mute, but would deal with you by writing everything down on a tablet.  He rode around on his motorcycle and would stop by the house about once a month.

My favorite place to eat was the old Tien Mou BBQ.  We also used to eat at a BBQ place across from the China Seas club, but after one of the floods the food started tasting bad so we quit going there.

We did spend a lot of time at the China seas, where my wife dealt with a lot of the locals exchanging money and stuff for the slot room. Caught a couple of good shows there, but mostly hung out and played pool, watched TV or played the slots.

There wasn't much TV:  Donnie and Marie show, Starsky and Hutch and Baa Baa Black Sheep (played on Thursday nights and I never missed an episode).  There was a movie in English on Saturdays and I think two on Sundays, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. We also started watching a reality type show from New Zealand and a Chinese talent show (that we actually started understanding).

Chop men would stop by the house every Saturday. We had my oldest son trained to

Say “Nothing to chop.”  I sold a nice refrigerator, some stereo gear, and miscellaneous stuff to the chop men before we left.

I worked at US Army Stratcom.  I worked shifts for a while then got assigned to quality control team.  I flew to a missile site down-island where we climbed up on the MW tower and could see the mainland.   We got fogged in and had to drive back -- 45 minute flight up, 11 hour drive back. We did get to see a lot of the island.

I made a trip to CCK Air Base to do QC testing and got to spend three or four days there. Dave Wyandt and I went down.  We had a great time, since work only lasted three or four hours a day and the rest was play time.

I did a little work in downtown Taipei (where the main switch was) and at Seven Star Mountain. I was supposed to go out to one of the islands, where at one time there was a communications site.  As they were making the arrangements for me, there was a shelling of the island and everything was destroyed so I ended up not going (which was a good thing).

I also got trained as a customs agent, and when someone would leave the island I’d go out and inspect the outbound shipment.  I think I did this four or five times.

I attended the University of Maryland Taipei campus.  I became friends with some local Chinese
students who attended classes, one of whom eventually married Chiang Hsiao-wu, Chaing Kai-sheks grandson.  I still have some of the grade slips and some of the Instructors' names. One of the instructors was Ellen Klossen whose husband at the time worked at the American Consulate.   In the last few years I’ve been able to get in touch with a couple of them, thanks to the internet.

I played softball  on the Grass Mountain team for one of the seasons then got to play on the TDC team.  I didn’t play much; mostly coached first base.  After the Carter announcement, we regularly had softball games against the Chinese unit stationed at the compound. We shared gloves and bats and had a very good time with all of them. They were very professional in every way.

I golfed at Peitou.  The course was across from a military base and once in awhile they would

fire off  a cannon. There was also one hole that you hit across a wide ravine.  The first time I played it I thought I hit a good shot but it went about halfway over then straight down.  I didn’t try to find my ball.  You couldn’t go out of bounds either because of snakes etc.   The last hole had a big rock in the middle so you had to go to one side or the other.  I think I bounced a few shots off of that rock.

I drove a 1978 Ford LTD, which I bought for $8,000 and sold for $11,500.   I never did any maintenance on the vehicle and wore the tires down to nothing before I sold it.  Driving was quite an experience but once you got used to it, it was easy.   I remember the lights turning from green to amber to red and if you were going the other direction, it was all about who could beat whom through the intersection.

I had one accident while I was there.  Coming home from the China Seas, I rear-ended a guy -- $2500 damage to my car but not much to his.  I didn’t get into too much trouble.  By the time the FAP’s got there (it was a cool night) I was sober ( I think).   Dealing with the insurance company was an experience.  I remember having to take my car to a repair shop on a little back street that was barely wide enough for the car. They did a good job on it though.  What was the insurance guy's name?  Jimmie something, I think.   Oh yeah, still have my Chinese drivers license.

One of my sons was born at the Chinese Naval Hospital in Tien Mou (Sept 1978).  It was a real experience since none of the doctors or nurses spoke English.  On the night he was born, I was waiting in the hospital and saw a young nurse come to the door and look at me three or four times but she never came out.  After about 5 hours, the Chinese interpreter assigned to US personnel came out and congratulated me on my new son.  My response was, “Huh?”  The young nurse was supposed to have come out to inform me but her English was poor and she didn’t want to embarrass herself.   When I went to see my son for the first time, I had to walk outside of the room that was round, with all of the newborns inside.  Since I didn’t speak Chinese I had no  clue what to do, so I just started walking.   All of a sudden one of the nurses came running up to the window and instructed me to go back.  My son was the only non-Chinese baby and she recognized that. My wife didn’t like staying in the hospital because she didn’t understand the language and all they served was Chinese food.

I had to get my son's birth recorded so I got all of the paperwork from the hospital, got it translated, and took it to the consulate.  I don’t remember how long it took, but I had to go back down to the consulate after the Carter announcement, and there were long, long lines of Chinese.  I managed to work my way to the front where one of the Marines saw me and let me move to the head of the line.

After Jimmy Carter's announcement, we stopped driving our cars and took a van to work every day to be safe, but still had rocks and other things thrown at the van.  I heard a noise one night at my house and thought someone was breaking in.  I got up to check it out and there were six or seven police officers sitting on the bumper of my car in my carport.  Eventually the Chinese army moved a company of soldiers into the area and we had no problems from then on. There were a couple of stabbings and one or two servicemen were assaulted during this time frame but for the most part the Chinese were pretty decent to us.

Near the end, the post office stopped processing any shipments being made by personnel that weren’t stationed in Taiwan (Lots of folks would come from the Philippines and  elsewhere to buy stuff to ship back).  My wife became friends with a couple of them, so I would stand in line and ship their stuff for them (and sometimes it was a lot of stuff).  Then they would send us stuff from the Phillipines (or Okinawa or Japan).   We ended up with some nice stuff from those places.

I came back with a bunch of pirated record albums that I got from the record store across the intersection from the Roma hotel.   We would buy them cheap and record them on tape because they only lasted three or four plays on the turntable.

We departed 3/21/1979 and were on the next-to-last plane to leave. Our Amahs rode out to the airport with us.  There were lots of tears, knowing that we probably wouldn’t ever see them again.  It was pretty rough leaving, more so for my oldest son, who was four years old when we left.

Taipei MAAG Officers Open Mess

I've been corresponding with Bob Loiselle, the son of Air Force Chief Warrant Officer V.W.Loiselle, who was the club manager of the MAAG Officers Club from 1959 until 1961.

He sent along a couple of items, including this invitation to the inaugural celebration of the new Civil Air Transport aircraft, "The Mandarin Jet," which was a Convair 880-M.

The second item was a photo of a pool patch, which was sewn onto swim trunks.  Bob thinks this one was his sister's.

As always, you can click on either image to see a larger version.

Club 63 in 65 and 66

Len dropped by here at the TDC quarterdeck yesterday and left this note about the Club 63:

From some of the comments on your page, sure am glad I was there before the Navy pulled the slots (1965 – 66).  They provided the revenue that paid for a lot of 10¢ drinks and great acts plus monthly non-family entertainment!

Here's a picture of a brass ashtray from the day!  I lived in the Signal Compound right behind TDC – the good old days waking up at 0200 covered by termites twice a year when they swarmed!

Len

4799^th Signal Communications Agency, Taiwan

Thanks, Len.  I've seen photos of these ashtrays on eBay before and have always wondered if they were given to departing club members or if they were just "liberated" from time to time.  Of course back in those days ashtrays were everywhere.  When I was a kid, some would make them in school as a gift for their dads.  That's hard to believe today.

If my memory is accurate, it seems to me that when I was at TDC during 1973-74, the Club 63 had a MAAG logo on the outside, but I'm not sure who ran it (Army?  Air Force?).  All I know is that the Navy took over its operation during my stay, removed the MAAG logo and changed the name to the China Seas Club.  Among other changes, they installed slot machines.  I think both the Army and Air Force banned slots from their clubs sometime in the late 1960s because a club manager or two started raking off profits for personal gain.  The Navy already had slot machines in the Headquarters Support Activity (HSA) west compound when I arrived at TDC.

I remember plenty of cockroaches and small lizards (geckos?) but this is the first I've heard about swarming termites.

TDC Nooners League

I've written once or twice about the TDC Nooners League.  We bowled one day a week (Wednesdays, I think) as part of our physical training program (honest!).  During my time it was common for several of us to stop off at the China Seas (Club 63) after bowling.  Some at TDC who weren't bowlers just avoided the hassle of organized exercise altogether and went straight to the club for their PT.

My team was called Granny's Guys, named after that old cartoon character in Playboy, and our shirts had her image embroidered on the back -- very tastefully done, of course.  Office mate John Cranford (Army) was on my team, along with DOD civilian Larry Marcum.  I believe there was an Air Force major whose name escapes me, and probably one or two other guys.

I just received these two photos from Vic Gerlach, who arrived at TDC around the time I left.  He was also in J-1 (Personnel) and became a Nooners League member.  His team was called the Combines and the shirt was made by Mr. Loo the tailor, as I think most of them were at the time  It's exactly like mine...except for Granny of course.

More on the Melody Maids

A few days ago, I posted a story about a couple of musical groups who appeared at the Linkou Club Annex in Taipei, along with some photographs provided by Les Duffin.  One of those groups was called The Melody Maids, but Les couldn't remember where they were from.

After posting that piece, I dug around a bit and finally located information about the group in the Handbook of Texas Online, a website maintained by the Texas Historical Society.  Here is another photo from Les, and a profile of the group:

In 1942 Eloise Milam was asked to help arrange entertainment for a bond rally at the Jefferson Theater in Beaumont. As a private music teacher, she had a group of voice students, whom she presented as a choral group, all dressed in white. Since the newspaper insisted on having a name for the group, they decided to call themselves the Melody Maids. They became a self sustaining, nonprofit organization consisting of teen age girls and were a great hit.

They began to travel from coast to coast singing for organizations, but mostly they performed at military bases and military hospitals. The group made four tours of Europe, several to England, three to the Far East, seven to the far North, four to the Caribbean, five to Mexico, seven to Hawaii, and four to Bermuda, Iceland, and the Azores. The girls financed some of the tours themselves by holding bake sales, style shows and other fund-raisers. After 1956 all of the Melody Maid tours were financed by the Entertainment Branch of the Department of Defense. Of all the performers who traveled with the Entertainment Branch, the Melody Maids were requested the most. They sang for the troops at military bases and hospitals from 1942 to 1972.

The Melody Maids and Eloise Milam wore identical costumes. Their routines called for a variety of costume changes, depending on their location and the content of the show. The group had a book of rules for conduct and etiquette. This book, the Melody Maid "Bible," taught them how to act when presented to royalty and the correct way to present themselves at formal affairs. Milam always said she taught the girls morals, manners, and music, in that order. To help celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of oil at Spindletop in 1901, Milam wrote a musical production, Song Saga of Spindletop. The work contained twelve original songs written by Milam to salute the oil industry of Beaumont. The first performance was on the anniversary (January 10, 1951) of the Lucas Gusher and was lauded by Gulf Oil Company. The Melody Maids appeared on the television show "We, the People" in 1952 to perform the musical.

Many of the Melody Maids kept in touch and established a tax exempt Melody Maid Foundation, which sponsored a $10,000 scholarship fund at Lamar University. There were around 1,500 Melody Maids through the years. The group received many awards over the years. The Eloise Milam–Melody Maid Rose Room at the Julie Rogers Theater in Beaumont opened in 1990. Scrapbooks, souvenirs, photographs, and other memorabilia are housed there. The room is open to the public by request. In 2000 the Melody Maids performed Song Saga of Spindletop at their annual reunion as a tribute to Eloise Milam.

Linkou Annex Stage Shows

Back in the sixties and seventies there were lots of entertainers who played the overseas military club circuit.  Most every club had its own house band of course, but these acts were in addition to that.  Some played the circuit full-time, going from base to base.  Others were groups -- college glee clubs for example -- who appeared at a few clubs and then returned home.

Les Duffin sent me some photographs of two of these groups who appeared at the Linkou Club Annex, near the HSA compound.  He recalls that the first group was called The Melody Maids but he doesn't recall where they were from.

The second group was from Kansas State University and called themselves The K-State Singers.

 

 

Rest and Recreation

Some time ago I wrote about the R&R flights that brought troops from Vietnam to Taipei.  But Taipei certainly wasn't the only place for these getaways.  Popular spots included Honolulu, Tokyo, Taipei, Singapore, Manila, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Sydney.

I found a 1967 Time Magazine article titled, "Recreation-Five Day Bonanza."  It provides a great overview of the entire R&R program, how it worked and where the more popular destinations were.

I was a little surprised to read that troops arriving in Taipei were supposedly advised to "keep out of the buses or you may lose your wallet."  Though these flights ended before I arrived in Taipei, I don't recall any problems like that during 1973-74.  There was the occasional burglary, but I never heard about anyone being robbed or having their wallets stolen.

Anyway, it's an interesting article that provides a good overview of the R&R flights.

Tien Mou in 1984 - Part 3

These are the last of the Tien Mou photographs that Les took during his 1984 visit to Taiwan.  They are also of the east side, where the recreation facilities were located.  The second to the last photo identifies that area as the intended site of the new Taipei American School.

Tien Mou in 1984 - Part 2

Today's photos are of the east side, where the recreation facilities were located.

Tien Mou in 1984, Part 1

A couple of weeks ago I posted a request from a woman who was in Taipei for a short time and wanted to visit Tien Mou, where she lived as a military dependent from 1969 to 1971.  She received several helpful tips from readers and was able to locate the area where she and many other military families once resided.

In response to her request, Les sent me several photographs that he took of the area during a visit to Taiwan in 1984.  Much had changed by then and of course there have been more significant changes since then, but I thought that the photos might be of interest to many here.  They capture Tien Mou as it appeared approximately five years after the departure of American military families.

Because there are many photos in this collection, I intend to post them over a three day period.  The first two today show the general area, including the Mongolian Barbecue.  Photos three through six are of the west side of the street where the Japanese school now stands.

 

 

 

 

Typhoon Gloria Aftermath

I've posted a number of photos and comments about Typhoon Gloria that hit Taiwan in 1963.  There was tremendous damage from flooding and high winds from what was then the largest typhoon to ever hit the island.  The HSA and USTDC compounds were both flooded.  I remember seeing a plaque on the wall of either the commissary or the exchange that showed the high water mark from that typhoon.

Les just sent me some photographs of the east compound that he took after the waters had receded.  The first two show items being set out to dry from the exchange and the third shows the line of military personnel and their families lining up to buy flood damaged items at deep discounts.

Directly ahead in the third photo is the base theater and library.  The library was just to the right of the theater.

American GIs Return to Club 63

Okay, so it's not really the Club 63. That place, where many of us spent much of our off duty time, closed its doors in 1979. But the building is still there and today it's The American Club in China.

Kent and several other Taiwan vets returned to Taipei for a visit a few weeks ago and were able to spend a little time at the club. John Quinn sent me these photos of the happy group and some of the food that they enjoyed while there.

I should point out that The American Club is an exclusive (and very expensive, I'm told) private club that does not allow visitors unless they are escorted by a club member. When the group's Taipei trip was being organized several months ago, club management graciously consented to allow them to tour the facility and to gather there for a meal. Individuals visiting Taipei in the future should not expect to be granted access.

John and Kent tell me that the interior of the place has been completely remodeled and looks almost nothing like it did back in the day. I understand that the stag bar building that was located across the parking lot from the main entrance (when I was there) is gone.

R&R Bag?

I saw this bag on eBay this morning. It appears that it was something that the Linkou Hotel gave out to R&R troops who stayed there. The R&R flights had ended by the time I arrived in 1973 and even though I stayed at the Linkou when I first arrived, I don't recall anything like this.

Club 63 Revisited

Here are a few more of Kent's photos from a few weeks ago. These were taken at The American Club in China, where the Club 63 (aka "China Seas Club") was formerly located. Kent says the place has been completely remodeled, which I'd expect since we left there about 30 years ago.

You can see the Grand Hotel in the background.

Kent confirmed that the stag bar building that used to be across the parking lot from the club when I was there is now gone.





This lounge inside the club looks similar to one that was there in 1973-74, but I doubt if it's the same.

I'm looking forward to seeing more photos and comments from Kent and the others who were part of the "American GIs Returning to Taiwan" group. I'll post links to them as soon as they're available.

The Guest

The party was well underway when the guest arrived at the second floor apartment. He arrived alone, as he always did, but he was grateful for the invitation and the chance to relax with good friends. The other guests, some there with their wives and others with their girlfriends, were helping themselves to the well stocked bar. He opened a can of Budweiser and began to mingle.

The host proudly demonstrated his “magic television” which turned itself on whenever he rattled his keys. He said that the first time it happened was during another party when someone dropped a glass on the tile floor and the TV clicked on all by itself. He’d spent hours experimenting with other noise sources to find one that might also work and the jingling key ring did the trick. The guest supposed it was less expensive than replacing broken glasses, but also thought that it would be simpler to just click the remote.

Someone turned on the stereo. It was an imposing behemoth from the Navy Exchange that fairly rattled the walls. The guests began singing loudly along with the music, mostly stuff from the sixties. Two guys in the room started voicing over the music in the style of Wolfman Jack (bringing you the BIG sound from the BIG town). They weren’t very good but nobody noticed and the other guests cheered them on.

The volume of both stereo and singers increased as the evening wore on and the guest wondered how the neighbors felt about it. He was a bit older than most of the other guests and thought about how he would react if he was one of the neighbors. He decided that he probably wouldn’t handle it well, especially if the partiers were guests in his country.

As the party continued into the night, he decided it was time to slip quietly out the door, catch a taxi and maybe drop by the Club 63 stag bar for a beer before calling it a night. He walked down the stairs, went outside and started up the street to find a cab.

As he walked under the balcony of the apartment where the party was being held, he felt what he first thought were rain drops. Only it wasn’t raining. One of the partiers had decided to relieve himself off the balcony onto the street below.

The guest jumped back under the balcony, out of the line of fire, until the phantom reliever stumbled back into the apartment. He considered going back upstairs but decided to forget about it and hailed a cab. After cranking down both of the backseat windows, he decided to forgo the stag bar and asked the driver to take him straight home…as quickly as possible.

After a long, hot shower (with lots of soap), the guest decided that he’d probably not be attending any more parties until his return to the States. He considered burning his clothes but decided to just have them washed the next day instead. He never mentioned the incident to anyone.

He didn’t realize that throughout his life, this night would be one of the first things he recalled whenever he thought about his fifteen months in Taipei.

Needless to say, he’d have preferred most anything else.

Rest and Recreation (R&R) - Part 3

This segment concludes the R&R series. The military men visit other areas as they conclude their "Holiday From Hell" in Taiwan and return to Vietnam.