USTDC Building Evolution

***UPDATE***

Good old Titojohn came up with a much better quality photo of the first photo below. He also learned that it was actually taken in 1949. As he pointed out, the lettering over the main entrance reads "Taipei Guest House" and the photo ID at the Life archive says that it was a "Guest house where exilers are temporarily put up."

I've replaced the image that was here so you can get a better look at it. Just click on the image to see the full size version. One other thing: The new photo reveals that what I thought was a park looks more like a storage dump. You can see what appear to be logs and other (building?) materials there.

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I don't think I've ever before seen this Life Magazine photograph of the USTDC building. It was taken somewhere around 1950. I would very much like to know what it was being used for at that time, since USTDC had not yet been established, but it's clearly the same building. The area that became the front parking lot looks like it might have been a garden or park at that time.


The next photo shows what the area looked like ten years later. The park, or whatever it was, became the front parking lot. The entryway walls were removed and the entrance was moved several yards further up the driveway.


The last photo shows the building as it appeared around the late 1970s. The shot was taken from the southwest corner of the main parking lot, with the main entrance at the center of the photo.

Among other changes, note that in the first photo there was no cover over the steps to the main entrance. In the second photo there was what appears to be a corrugated steel awning, and by the 1970s, when I was there, the awning was replaced by a permanent roof.

Bird Sighting

This bird looks vaguely familiar. Anyone recognize it?

Award of Navy and Marine Corps Medal

During the summer of 1961, CT3 Robert G. Harris was presented with the Navy and Marine Corps Medal by VADM Roland N. Smoot in front of the main entrance to USTDC. He was offered the opportunity to fly off to Washington to be presented the award by the Secretary of the Navy, but he would have none of it.

If you didn't already know, the Navy and Marine Corps Medal is awarded to service members who, while serving in any capacity with the Navy or Marine Corps, distinguish themselves by heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy. Typically, it is awarded for actions involving the risk of one's own life. The Airman's Medal, the Soldier's Medal and the Coast Guard Medal are the equivalent awards for the other services.

Robert told me that there was a hostel fire and he was credited with getting everyone out. He was in the day room with a couple of other guys when they saw smoke. The other two ran to call the fire department, but Robert remembered seeing several guys who had returned from an evening on the town and he went from room to room waking everyone up and carrying, kicking and shoving them outside.

He reentered the building several times and was inside when the roof collapsed. He remembers that he made it out the back of the building but doesn't remember whether it was through a door, window or just a burned opening. He then hopped over a (broken glass covered) wall and helped some of the locals get their belongings out of their homes as well. By the time he returned to the hostel, searchers were looking for his body which, fortunately, was positioned vertically, alive and well, in front of them. There were no casualties.

He believes that the old hostel was located somewhere between the Navy Club and the Club 63.

He says that his biggest concern at the time was losing the stack of gifts that he'd bought to send home for Christmas.

Good on ya', Robert.

Linkou Annex Menu

I received a note from Ted Walker, who was an ETR2 in J-6 at TDC from April 1968 to July 1969. He talked about how much he enjoyed his tour and how he's still in touch with several swabbies from back in the day. He also enjoyed working with the Army techs and communicating via TTY with the folks on Grass Mountain.

He mentioned that HSA had a rugby squad and several guys from TDC, including Ted, played for the team. Are those bumper stickers right when they say it takes leather balls to play rugby? Just wondering.

Anyway, he sent along some scans of a few pages from the Linkou Club food menu. Sorta makes your mouth water, doesn't it? Of course I'm talking about the prices. The food was pretty good too!

1963 Taiwan Videos

John Quinn alerted me to three very nice videos of Taiwan in 1963. They appear to have been taken by one or more Air Force guys, and the uniforms certainly are from that period. I remember the "TI" style fatigue caps that some of the guys were wearing, and which I also wore at that time at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. Also one of the guys is wearing his Air Force raincoat over civilian clothes, which was authorized and commonly done at the time.

But the real value of these videos is the images of the people of Taiwan. There are shots of men, women, kids, farmers, Taiwan soldiers (officer and enlisted), trucks, taxis, pedicabs, fields, rice paddies, women washing clothes in a river and lots of other interesting things. Did I mention kids?

These are a great historical record of the period and I know you'll all enjoy them as much as I have. You can find the videos here, here and here. If you recognize the locations, please let me know.

Typhoon Destruction

I just want to say to the good people of Taiwan that you are on my mind and in my prayers this morning as you begin to recover from the terrible destruction of Typhoon Morakot.

I understand that the storm triggered the worst flooding in Taiwan in 50 years, dumping as much as 80 inches (two meters) of rain, driven by winds of 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour during this past weekend. More than 50 people have been confirmed dead with at least that many still reported as missing.

I am very sorry for your losses and I wish you all the best in the days ahead.

Passing of RADM Linder

I just learned that Rear Admiral (Retired) James Benjamin Linder, of Oro Valley, Arizona and formerly of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, died at 4:21 a.m. on Tuesday, April 7, 2009. He was born on October 13, 1925, in Osceola, Iowa, to Merlin D. "Sarge" and Gracia I. McKay Linder. He graduated from Mount Pleasant High School and enlisted in the US Navy on May 18, 1943, in Des Moines, Iowa.

He is shown here receiving an award from US Ambassador Len Unger in Taipei.

Rear Admiral Linder was the last Commander of the US Taiwan Defense Command, arriving in 1977. He supervised and executed the withdrawal of all US military personnel and dependents from the island in 1979. Before retiring, he served under the CINCPAC from May to July, 1979.

Admiral Linder's obituary can be found here.

USTDC Commanders

Left to right: VADM Gentner, CNO ADM Moorer, Admiral Feng Chi-chung, Chinese Navy commander-in-chief

The last time I updated my list of the admirals who commanded USTDC was in April 2008. Though I've have never found any historical documents that contain a complete list, I believe these are fairly close.

Today I found a Time Magazine article from April 1964 that described President Johnson's new top command team and one of those mentioned was Vice Admiral William E. Gentner Jr. (misspelled as "Centner" in the first sentence of the article). I believe that he was the third COMUSTDC.

The article describes VADM Gentner as follows:

Vice Admiral William E. Centner Jr., 56, new commander of the Taiwan Defense Command on Nationalist Chinese Formosa. A taut, efficient planner and a professional perfectionist, Gentner demands that his subordinates be thinking men as well as fighting men, regularly flew "guest lecturers" out to speak aboard the big carriers when he was boss of the Sixth Fleet. Though Bill Gentner probably won't need it, there will be plenty of advice available to him on Formosa. U.S. Ambassador Jerauld Wright is a retired four-star admiral.

Once again, here's the list of COMUSTDC admirals that I've been able to find. If anyone has any additions or corrections to this list, please let me know.

Vice Admiral Roland N. Smoot: 1958

Vice Adm. Charles L. Melson 1962 to 1964

Vice Adm. William E. Gentner Jr. 1964 to 1967

Vice Adm. John L. Chew 1967 to 1969

Vice Admiral Walter H. Baumberger: 1971-1972

Vice Admiral Philip A. Beshany:  Sep 1972 – Sep 1974

Vice Admiral Edwin K. Snyder:  Aug 1974 – Aug 1977

Rear Admiral James Linder:  1978 – 1979

Vice Admiral Doyle: ???? - ????

Intelligence Staff Photo

I recently located the above photograph that was labeled as the USTDC Intelligence Staff. I believe the shot was taken at the main entrance to TDC, somewhere between 1957 and 1959. The size of the group suggests to me that it may include more than just the J-2 folks, but perhaps someone who was there at the time can clarify that.

One of the individuals in the photo is LT Tom Hahn, who is in the center of the third (standing) row, behind another naval officer who is wearing glasses. Lieutenant Hahn, a Native American, had a remarkable military career, retiring from the Navy as a Captain in June, 1972. You can find a summary of his military career, with many great photos here.

For more information about the history of the Lenape-Delaware, be sure to visit this site as well.

Many thanks to Chris Hahn, Tom's son, for sharing information about his dad and the tribal history.

If any of you recognize other faces in this photograph and have information you could share about them, please let me know.

TASCC - 2

I found one other small snippet of film from the day I attended a sports car rally put on by the Taipei Area Sports Car Club. I don't know what kind of car this was nor the name of the driver. You can see a couple of military trucks that appear to be very close to the action.