Then And Now Photos

Sarj provided these "then and now" photos of the hotel at Sun Moon Lake and the First Hotel.

The Detour To Sun Moon Lake

Sarj Bloom documented his long and bumpy ride to Sun Moon Lake with these photos. Here are his comments:

Here are a couple of photos of my car navigating the river bank that we had to drive along for a very long distance. The main highway was shut down because of a rock and mud slide and this river bank, which was actually part of the dry part of the river, became our road. It was ridiculous as you can see.

My wife and her two guests, Chinese American young women, had to get out of the car so it didn't hit bottom as badly. To top this off, a bottle of Pepsi blew up in the back seat and injured one of the girls.

I was lucky that only the tailpipe and muffler came off and the oil pan had some real nice dents in it. I put the car in the garage as soon as I got back to Taipei. Does this even look like a road to you? We must have traveled like this for three hours. We laughed and kept saying that we may never get back to civilization. Always the photographer, I had to shoot the pictures myself. I would get out of the car along with the women and survey the road, take a picture, get back in the car and pray. Oh my poor '57 Chevy!

Chen Cheng and Admiral Smoot

Sarj sent in this photo of Vice President Chen Cheng presenting an award to Admiral Smoot at his departure from USTDC in 1962.

Another USO Photo

Sarj Bloom sent another shot from the Bob Hope USO Tour:

I wasn't going to scan this photo but then I noticed that PN1 Fletcher also had his name on the window along with Anita Bryant's and Janis Paige's and Miss USA, Amedee Chabot. I thought that maybe someone would recognize him or he would even see this picture.

PN1 stands for Personnelman First Class. With my loupe (magnifier) on the original photo I can see that his badge says "Bob Hope Staff" and it has an official Chinese chop on it (see insert).

USO Shows

Most of us who served "back in the day" have fond memories of Hollywood stars who entertained service men and women at USO shows.

Sarj Bloom sends a collage of photographs that were taken during the 1962 Bob Hope Christmas USO Tour.

Sarj's comments follow:

At this time I was no longer the junior PO in the lab, so PH3 Gallagher was assigned to shoot these photos. I got to sit in an aisle seat and almost got on the TV taping.

Hopefully some of the visitors to the site will remember this show. I remember it being downtown but can't remember where. Stev has a better memory than me of places and locations, and maybe he or someone else who was there can name the building.

Here are the details:

1962 Hope Christmas USO Tour:
Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Taiwan, Philippines, Guam

Guest Stars: Les Brown and band, Anita Bryant, Amedee Chabot, Miss U.S.A., Jerry Colonna, Peter Leeds, Janis Paige, Lana Turner.

left to right in group photo : Jerry Colonna, Miss U.S. A. Amedee Chabot, Lana Turner, Janis Paige, Anita Bryant, Bob Hope, Peter Leeds.

Earthquake!

Earthquakes have always been pretty common in Taiwan. Sarj sent along this account of one rumbler that he experienced in the early nineteen-sixties:

Here is a photo taken on the top of the First Hotel, the tallest building in Taipei in 1962 or 63. We were attending a party that some officer invited me to. There was a lot of brass there and as I remember the officer who invited me loved the official portrait that I took of him so much that he invited me and my wife and Chief Dumas , chief of the photo lab, to this party.

The party was being held on the roof of the hotel and shortly after I took this photo...left to right PHC Dumas, chief's friend, my wife Ray-Fong. As you can see, the chief was sitting with his arm on the outside wall of the hotel and so was I after this photo. Well, the quake hit and the building swayed so much I was sure it was going to fall over. Boy, did we get off that roof and down to the ground fast!

I tried to look up details of the quake but with no luck. I remember everyone saying it was one of the worst in quite some time. Maybe it was a 6.0?

Maybe someone else will remember the date and the magnitude of the quake or have another story of other quakes. I know I remember my first one -- waking up with a hangover while the bed was jumping across the room.

Here's another photo of the First Hotel as it looked then, and as it looks today. Still standing!

More Grass Mountain Park Photos

Stev Pitchford, who earlier sent photos of the park on Grass Mountain, has provided two more. These were also taken during September or October of 1959.

Serenity is defined as the absence of mental stress or anxiety; peace of mind; repose. That's a good description of what I see in these photos of the park.

Another Keelung River Bridge View

I received this one today from old friend Kent Mathieu over at the Taipei Air Station website.

The view here is to the south, in the general direction of USTDC and the HSA compound. From the photos I've seen, that whole skyline certainly looks quite different today!

Keelung River Bridge

Stev Pitchford comes through again, this time with some photos taken on and around the Keelung River bridge that was near the USTDC compound. All of these pictures were taken in Sept. 1959 except for the last one, which was taken in Nov 1959. His comments appear below:

When you left the front entrance of the TDC compound, you went up to a road by the Keelung River.

Going left on that road took you toward the zoo, Chungshan N. Road, and the Keelung River Bridge.

Across the bridge to the right was the road to the 63 Club. Bear left instead, and you were on the road to Grass Mountain. If you look to the left of the bus on the bridge in this picture, you can see the driveway to the Grand Hotel.

This is a view from the bridge.




The Grass Mountain area is shrouded in clouds.

To see what this area looks like today, go to Google Earth and enter these coordinates: 25 4' 25.03"N, 121 31' 31.82"E. It is a different world today.

New Photos of TDC Building

I received these two great photos of the USTDC main building from Stev Pitchford. They were taken during October, 1959.

In one of the other photos there was a corrugated steel awning over the main entrance, but in these photos there was no awning at all. During my time at TDC ('73-'74), the entrance had been remodeled a bit, including a permanent awning. No doubt there were a lot of other changes to the building over the years.

A few people have asked about the history of this building. Some say it was built by the Japanese and one person said he heard that it might have been used as a prison.

Any other ideas?