We Came Together on Memorial Day 2020 at the Old Taipei Prison Wall

On Memorial Day, this Monday, in Taipei, a group came together to remember
all fallen members of our US Military.

Michael Hurst, a Canadian long-term expat living and working in Taiwan and the founder and director of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society in Taiwan, headed-up the gathering again this year.

The gathering was held along the old Taipei Prison wall in late morning.

I was not in Taiwan this year or I would have been standing with the others.

Photos below courtesy of:

Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society 
and
Scott J. Ellinger, Commander, VFW Flying Tigers Post 9957 Taiwan

The Plumb Rains that had kept Taipei wet and cloudy for much of May, broke overnight and the warm sun lifted the humidity to extreme level, but seeing the blue skies and white billowy clouds on Memorial Day made everyone happy.

Here, The Old Taipei Prison Wall.

The building to the left is Chung Hwa Telephone Company.

The 2 plaques next to the flag are permanently attached to the wall.

Scott J. Ellinger, Commander, VFW Flying Tigers Post 9957 Taiwan, is placing a 
VFW Red poppy Wreath under the US Flag.

What's written on those Plaques?  

You'll have to enlarge this photo to clearly read the writing.
I think we need a clearer photo, I'll take one on my next trip to Taipei. 

(Does anyone have a clearer photo?)
please email it to taipeiairstatioin@yahoo.com  Thank you..

Put you mouse over this or any photo, hold down the Ctrl key and then click on the + key, the photo will enlarge... 

 Michael Hurst, opening the ceremony.   

May God Bless Michael Hurst.
 He has put so much effort into our "Annual Memorial Day Gathering" at the wall,
year after, year after, year.

Thank you Michael Hurst.

Many others have also contributed in making these Memorial Day coming together events successful over the years.

Before each Ceremony, Michael usually asks one or two attendees to read 
things, such as the names of the men who were executed, the Chaplain, or someone in attendance, to pray before we begin.

Salute !
As our National Anthem is playing, in our hearts we remember all fallen US Military members and especially those US Airman who were killed inside this
Prison Wall in 1945.

These men and women represented you at the Prison Wall 
on  Memorial Day, Monday morning.

A shout out to each of you for coming out to our Memorial Day ceremony.

 You Remembered......

Many of the Veterans who once served in Taiwan have already passed.

You younger men and women, the next generation, it's your turn, will you join us?

Memorial Day 2020 in Taiwan - Who Knew US Military Men were Executed in Taipei

Monday, May 25th, 2020.

 Remembering, Honoring and Mourning
military personnel who have died while
serving in the United States Armed Forces.

This Memorial Day in Taiwan, we especially want to remember what transpired 

75 years ago on June 19th, 1945. 

Some time before June 19th, Japanese Military authorities at the Taipei Prison,
conducted a "Trial" on a group of American Army Air Force and Navy men
 imprisoned in Taipei.

The airmen were found "Guilty" and sentenced to Death.

On the morning of Tuesday, June 19th 1945, 

those men were taken from their cells and Executed by rifle fire.

This Monday, May 25th, US Memorial Day,
a gathering will take place at 11:00AM, 

along the Wall outside the Old Taipei Prison, 

to remember these men and all of our fallen military.

Please arrive on time, the ceremony usually begins promptly.

Everyone is welcome.

The Ceremony this year is again being
sponsored by the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society.
 (www.powtaiwan.org)
 
Despite the Covid-10 Virus, this gathering is likely to be one of the few actual gatherings 
on Memorial Day this year.

To find the Taipei Prison Wall...

Take the Metro - Red or Yellow Line.

Get off at Dongmen Station.

Upstairs, you're on the first floor inside the station.
I suggest you use the large clean rest room.

Standing inside the station, looking directly at the Rest Rooms, look right, 
and leave the station via Exit #3, to the right, along the rest room wall,
 hardly anyone will exit here.

Ride the escalator to street level. You'll ride on 2 different escalators to get to street level.


  As you step off the 2d escalator, you'll turn Right and step onto a raised platform, now turn Left walk down a few steps (south) onto the street sidewalk (think it's asphalt).

  Continue walking along the Left side of the street to the 2d crossing street, it's only a block and a half.

Turn Right, walk across the small street, continue walking 1 short block (west)
Push the Walk Button on the pole, you'll have to wait for a Walk Light to cross this very busy street in front of you.

Turn Left and walk a short distance (south) and you will see the small signs on your right,  on the old Taipei Prison Wall, quite close to the sidewalk you are walking on.

If you get lost, show a local person the pictures below, they will probably remember and  will point you to the wall.

The folks of Taiwan are very gracious! 

Your destination is exactly where the man in white shirt is walking,
the Taipei Prison Wall... 

Closer view of Taipei Prison Wall,  2 plaques on the wall.

Closer view of Plaques taken during a previous gathering on Memorial Day.


May God Bless All who have fallen in service to our Country.

Amen...





















  

A Visit to the Black Bat Memorial Hall

It's been quite awhile since my first visit to the Black Bat Memorial Hall in Hsinchu.

But before we visit, let's look back on how that visit came about.

It was 20 November 2010, friends, Gene, Benny and I came together in Hsinchu, believing we would soon enter the gates at Hsinchu AFB, to visit their Open House.

Read about how things went down on that day (talked about inside the story below)
 and how, some 3 weeks later,
we finally entered the gate of Hsinchu AFB to visit the Open House displays.

Double Click on link below,  Bold colored line below,  
to read story and view photos of our Open House visit.. 

 https://taipeiairstation.blogspot.com/search?q=hsinchu+open+house

The November visit turned out to be interesting in itself.

Then, come back to this page and have a look at the Black Cat Memorial Hall photos.

The photos of the Memorial Hall and outside area were taken on 11 December 2010, after we concluded our visit at the Hsinchu AFB Open House, mid afternoon.

 Memorial Hall from lawn area of the park.
Street runs just to the right side of this photo.

Dong Da Park signage siting on right,  beside palms.




The Memorial Hall Building was constructed using same footprint as the BOT Family Housing area homes in Hsinchu, although not as large a footprint, but close to same size when adding basement.

The building was constructed with a basement, something the Family Housing homes  
did not have.  The basement floor space doubled the available floor display and office areas for the Memorial Hall..

Here is one of the BOT Hsinchu family homes, in the early days of MAAG.
This was the home of LTC Rayle, US Army, MAAG Taiwan. 

The Memorial Hall sits inside the Dong Da Park.

Side view stairway to basement area of the building.
Street is just to my back in this photo.

Walking across grass toward main door.

  "Street View" photo from Google Earth 8 May 2020.

 This photo is not the best quality.

Unfortunately, the front door is just to the my back when I took this photo, so reflection of light from the doorway floods the plexiglass covering the diagram.

Photo - hard to get clean photo, spotlight was

flooding the photo from above my head.

 Map depicting some of the missions the men of the Black Bat Squadron flew...

Inside view of some of the displays.

Gene leaving the Memorial Hall after our visit, don't remember what he purchased.

I must have been complaining to him, asking what happened, you took so 

long to check-out...

Guaranteed, that's why he's smiling.

But I wasn't mad, just laughing.

We got back in the car and drove out to the High Speed Rail Station.

I purchased a ticket and caught the next train back to Taipei.

It was a full day, lots to see at the base, and an enjoyable visit to the 

Black Bat Memorial Hall.

 

 

Pop-Up Photo 1959-1960

 Courtesy Richard Thompson circa 1959 1960

I received an Email from Richard Thompson this morning, checking-in and passing along greetings.

I went back in my records to review the Blog Story we posted a few years ago.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the East North Gate in Taipei.

I'm not sure which direction the camera is pointed.  

This was a major circle on the road between our MAAG Compound and Taipei Air Station.

Notice the US Navy Van, directly in front of the Petticab on right side of the photo, the rear end of the van is out of focus, must be speeding to an important pickup or delivery.

If you'd like to see all of Richard Thompson's old photos, click on the link below.

HERE

Taiwan Personnel Listing - 13 April 2020

Below, our current, updated, Taiwan Personnel Listing.

If you served in Taiwan, we encourage you to add your name and "Nickname.

Anyone who served in Taiwan is welcome, we cover all services and all Taiwan Duty Stations.
 
If you find someone on the list that you would like to contact, please Email us with name.

We will forward your Email to that person.

 Want to add your name to the Taiwan Personnel Listing? 

Use the listing below as a guide to what information to include in your Email. 

  Our Email address:  taipeiairstation@yahoo.com

There was 1 addition to the Taiwan Listing this week. 

To view the Taiwan Personnel Listing, click,  "Read more" on the left margin below.

MAAG Compound then HSA West Compound

Came across this 1960 Map of the old HSA Compound.

Interesting to see again after so many years.

I know most of you were in the Compound many times during your tour.

The gasoline station would bring everyone inside, 

In the early years of MAAG, this was THE only compound.

Today's photo, taken about 9 years after we arrived in Taiwan.

Things have changed in those nine years, but everything is probably still inside this compound.

I tried to clean up the photo, lots and lots of white dust on the photo, which shows up when you scan the photo.

This is a copy someone scanned I believe, I don't have the original.

Perhaps you remember what was a special place for you or your family.

What comes to my mind, the Chapel, where many attended services.

Perhaps the Snack Bar.

How about the many small shops scattered inside?

What can you tell us about this photo, please leave your thoughts in a Comment bellow at the end of this story.

I want to point out something I noticed when cleaning the photo a few minutes ago, (it took a couple hours to work over this photo)

There appears to be a US Flag hanging from a building just where the old Club 63 was located.

Hold down the Ctrl key and then tap on the + key and the photo will enlarge.

With you mouse, push into the gate and go up the street until you see the old MAAG Sign,

Look left down the side street, one or two buildings, and see if you can notice what appears to be the US Flag draped down covering a door or window in the building. 

Enjoy, have fun looking around the old MAAG/West Compound...

A Must Read Taiwan History

I happened to run across this article linked below by chance, and found it to be very interesting.

There is so much background History on Taiwan and China and if you don't look, you won't find it.

Perhaps you are hunkering-down at home, and rather than watching television, you might find this study worth the read.

Have a peek anyway, nothing to loose.

The link link is to the book version. Open for reading, no costs involved.

https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA565881/mode/2up 

When it opens, just put your mouse pointer up on the upper right side of each page and the page will turn.

So Much History, we never knew....