CCK Air Base Orientation Booklet

Vincent Acquaviva Jr. sent the CCK Orientation Booklet from his time at CCK in the early 1970's.

I arrived at CCK AB in July 1971. I worked as Crew Chief on C-130 aircraft 62-1804 which did Vietnam and Thailand work. In June 1972 I was assigned to "E-Flight" Special Projects Section which did Special Ops work with Air America in Thailand, Laos, Taiwan and many other countries. I was a maintenance Crew Chief on C-130E aircraft 64-0515 and 63-7868. I stayed with Special Ops as we moved to Clark AB in April 1974 and until my separation in September 1974.

I returned to Taiwan in 1976 to attend National Taiwan University and married my wife while attending NTU. I later returned to Pennsylvania and worked with the Air Reserve on C-130 aircraft until my retirement in 2007.

My wife and I have been active in helping Taiwan students and families in Pennsylvania throughout the years.

I have not been back to Taiwan since I departed in 1978. My wife and I plan to join with the "American GI's Returning to Taiwan in 2009" group visiting Taiwan next summer.

I have many friends in Taiwan and my feelings are, "Once you have a friend in Taiwan, you have a friend FOREVER."
To see the maps and photo's in the full screen view, just click or double click on the image.
Here's the map of CCK during the 1970's. Courtesy of Les D.


Today's view of CCK. If you look around at the buildings, you'll find most of the base has not changed from the 1970s.

We begin the CCK Orientation Booklet pages.....

To review the complete Orientation Booklet click HERE..

Hello CCK veterans..  There is more of CCK in this blog.

After you look over the complete booklet, go back to the top of the blog and scroll down to the search block and type in CCK.  All of the Blog Posts I have put-up about CCK will show up and you can read them all.

If you can't find the other posts, just send me an e-mail and I will help you.

AND - Please consider sending in your photos and stories of CCK and Taichung.  Please email me.

I appreciate all mail and will answer you and help in anyway possible.  Please write.

TaipeiAirStation@Yahoo.com 

You'll want to see the complete booklet, so first go back up to the HERE

and click it.  That link takes you to the Taipei Air Station WEB PAGE.  When you finish looking around there, come back and check out the rest of the CCK stuff posted on the Taipei Air Station BLOG.

MAAG Taiwan 1956

George Marcy continues his remembrances ..

Five of us left Camp Gordon, GA for Taiwan in December 1955. With a delay-in-route for a Christmas at home, we met up after Christmas at the Oakland Army Terminal and from there to Travis Air Force Base, to process for the trip.
.
This sounds easy today, but this was the propeller airplane era and it took us from January into February 1956. We were on the 13th flight to leave Travis and the first not to have to turn back for some repair. We finally arrived at Hickam Field in Hawaii just in time to see our connecting flight to Clark Field leaving the end of the runway we had just landed on. Oh well, seven days in Hawaii wasn’t bad even back then.

Leaving Hickam we stopped in Kwajalein, Guam and then on to Clark Field.

We finally got to Clark Field and the only thing I remember there was the vast number of flies. We overnighted there and instead of turning off the lights they told us to make sure the netting was around us when we lay in our cots. The flies were so thick they covered the top of the netting and darkened it enough to sleep.


Our CAT flight from Clark to Taipei was the first time most of us were introduced to the Chinese.

The stewardess was nice enough to teach us to say ‘I Love You’ in Chinese. Also ‘Thank You’ both of which I still remember and use the ‘Thank You’ when we are in a Chinese restaurant, surprises the staff most of the time. Of course I learned some other words when we were in Taipei, but most of those I have forgotten. Back then most of the pilots for CAT had been with General Chennault and the Flying Tigers.
On our first attempt to land in Taipei, in very overcast conditions, he darn near put us in a rice paddy, so we flew south to Tainan and returned when the weather had cleared.

The road to my Grass Mountain Hostel

Entrance to my Hostel at Grass Mountain, Hostel #12 and the great sulphur baths.

Accommodations for us then were on Grass Mountain, just below the home of Chaing Kai-shek. For this we were given $45.00 per day per-diem for the first 90 days. A bunch of money for a Pfc back then. Base pay for a PFC in 1956 was $99.37 per month. My first few months were spent in the Comm Center in Taipei. Not the most exciting job I have ever had. Commander Brazil was the Comm Center chief. A frustrated Navy Line Officer, who really wanted to be on a ship, a real OK guy though.

My buddy Al Leonard and I.

My buddy, and the only one I really remember, 50 odd years later, Al Leonard came to work one day and found we were being been sent to the off shore islands. Al to Matsu and me to Quemoy (Kinmen) .

In one of our Jeeps off to some where.

Duty on the Islands (Kinmen) was considerably different than in Taipei. The Nationalist Chinese and the Mainland Chinese were fighting a war. Kinmen was shelled regularly and a couple of cows or other livestock would get killed. The only other deaths were from fools who thought it would be fun to drive thru the area that got shelled and dodge the shells. Cost us two officers just before I arrived. The story was they tried the drive got half way and decided it would be better to take cover in a shell crater shell never hits the same place twice, but parked their jeep next to it. The next shell hit the jeep and dumped it in on top of them. This coward never tried it. I did however attempt to fire the 45 I had to carry at all times. The target I tried to hit is probably still there in the same condition as it was before I tried.

Never thought the weapon I carried would do me much good as I couldn’t it the broad side of a barn door with the darn thing. Looked good in pictures though.

Uniform of the Day in Kinmen, 1956 - less my .45 caliber pistol.

.

I was on the island during Chaing’s 1956 May Day visit They took away all our weapons and even took our cameras. We later got the cameras back with new film in them so we could take his picture. They also returned the film that was in the cameras when they took them. We had dinner with Chaing, and I never thought I would see what I saw, except in a movie. We sat down to steak and fixin’s as they say here in Texas. Chaing sat at the head table and they brought him out a plate of scrambled eggs. The soldier standing behind him reached over and tasted them. Chaing waited a few minutes, saw the soldier was still alive, and then ate them. When you have the power he had you can’t be too careful.

For the rest of my stay on the Island I was usurped from the Signal Corp to help the Commander type his quarterly report. I always got good duty because I could type 70 to 80 words per minute and you could read it. Col Kaiser wrote a great Letter of Appreciation which I still have.

On my return to Taipei it was back to the Comm Center in this building..

Guard at our Taipei MAAG Compound in 1956.

.

When I look at Taipei today I don't recognize it. We had a MAAG Compound where all our activities were. There was the usual Bar street in the downtown, off Chungshan Beilu, the main road.
.
I remember when Chaing came down off Grass Mountain and drove down the street the population was required to turn their backs to his entourage or face serious consequences.

If one met the civilian population, which I was fortunate to do because some worked in the Comm Center, you could get invited to some of the better eating places in the City, otherwise it was not recommended that you eat the local food. I found all the folks I met to be very nice, but there was some rivalry between the Native Taiwanese and those who came over from the Mainland.

Our best transportation in Taipei.

I’m sure there were a lot of other things that went on. We did go thru a Typhoon, but it didn’t do much damage just brought a bunch of rain. Right before I left they had built barracks for us, but it was a short stay for me as I was on my way home in December of 56.

Editors Note:

I want to thank George for taking time to send in his photos and also for writing down some thoughts and remembrances of his time in Taiwan. Had George not contributed, we may never have read about things that occurred during 1956 on Kinmen and in Taipei.

Have you got pictures of your time in Taiwan? Send them in, I will scan them and return them to you in just a few days. Thank you for helping keep our history chronicles. We can also scan your slides. Kent.

Kinmen - MAAG Taiwan - July 1956

Please click on any photograph to see a larger view

George Marcy, now residing in Texas found these 52 year old photographs taken on Kinmen Island and sent them for us to enjoy.

...

George writes:

"Here are some of my photographs. One is of the Kinmen Crew I was on the Island with. I regret I can’t remember any of their names and regrettably I did not write them down. These were the only times any of us wore anything other than a bathing suit and a 45 strapped on. I am third from the left in the back row in the crew picture. The other is a picture taken when the Generalissimo visited I am the second to the right of him squatting. The building in the rear was the officers billet and on the other side of the hill behind it was Little Kinmen and then the coast of China. A lot closer than it seemed. We used to watch the shelling from the top of the hill as the Chinese would fire back and forth at each other. After I left they got to where they could lob shells over the hill. Glad I was gone. The was a Major named Ford who was out there when I was there that had trained the gunners so well that they would knock off the Mainlands Loudspeakers that constantly blared propaganda at the island. Then the Red Chinese would run around and put them back up and he would have the gunners pick them off again."

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek stands for photographs on Kinmen.

Our Kinmen Defense Command Advisory Team (KDCAT) photographed in July 1956

Front Row - Left to Right: LTC Flynn, MAJ Hampton, CPT Steffens, CPT McDevitt, MAJ Harrington, COL Kaiser, MAJ Gabel, LTC Sunday, MAJ Evans, MAJ Kerris,

MAJ Perry.

Second Row - Left to Right: SFC Fisci, SOP2 Spitz, SFC Guerrero,. MSGT Jones, MSGT Middleton, SP3 Evans, PFC Grau, MSGT Ward, SFC Sheppard, MSGT Kobo,

SFC Puryear, SFC Allen.

Third Row - Left to Right: SGT Johnson, TSGT Davis, SP3 Marcy

New Buildings Open at Taipei Air Station

Click on this photo for a larger view.

Updated:

Headquarters 327th Air Division Offices at their new facilities. What a big change from the small offices under the metal awnings close to the swimming pool. The closeness of all the facilities and the awnings were the heart of the old Air Station, it's a shame they had to be torn down. Yo-SomeiwiSsiid
...
What does that sign read just to the front of the Cadillac parked along the sidewalk? I wonder if this is the sign that stood in front of the old Cotton Building. See the original sign here.
..
These new building opened a few years after I departed Taipei. Can someone put an opening date on these offices?

The exciting news, this building and many others from the days of Taipei Air Station stand today and are in daily use by the University School of Management.

When you visit Taipei, drop by and visit, just a short distance from the subway (MRT) stop, Gongguan Station on the Green Line. Look for College of Management NTU, the old buildings are right in that area. Look here at the MRT map for Roosevelt Rd. Sec 4, the School of Management is just north of Roosevelt Road in about the center of this map. When you reach the tall School of Management building, you will find some of the old Taipei Air Station buildings including the building shown in the photograph above.

Photo courtesy of Les D.

Can You Help With A Name?

I have a number of photographs of this park. The folks who sent in photos called it Central Park. It is a beautiful place.

I Googled "Taipei Central Park" with results listing Daan Forest Park as Taipei Central Park, Taipei's newest park.

Please help me identify this location and it's name today.

Thank you.

Earlier Days at Taipei Air Station

George McAdams was 8 years old when he arrived in Taipei in May 1958.

He recalls those early years in Taipei.

While I was only 8-10 years old, I can remember many aspects of Taipei, and one of them was Taipei Air Station.

My father, Lt. Col. C. A. McAdams, worked in the Comptroller’s Office at the Presidential Office Building (second floor, second window from the right when you looked at it from the front).

In reading your articles, I didn’t remember much about TAS, thinking first that the acronym was for Taipei American School, but when I saw the picture of the movie theater, that was something I really remember. We actually saw THE TEN COMMANDMENTS there, which because only a one reel player was used, and the film sometimes came unwound, made the 4 hour movie a 6-hour extravaganza!

During our first year in Taipei, we lived in the compound of about 7 different houses built by a Chinese Major General. Near our house Roosevelt Road broke off from another street I believe it was Wan Sheng Street.

Wan Sheng Street. went by “Army Hill,” a Chinese Army bunker in a huge hill that had a white mountain goat-type animal (with long straight black antlers) tied to a tree at the top. Occasionally, we would think about sneaking into Army Hill compound, but the electrified barb wire just above the water in the moat usually stopped us. I do think we shorted out the circuit a few times when we threw a wet log onto the fence.

About “Army Hill,” that’s was just what I thought the kids called it, but one day 30 years later, I was talking to a fellow who coordinated the satellite stations for the USA. We were at a ballgame killing time, and he noticed I didn’t have a southern accent, and I told him about living in various places, including Taipei. He said he had just been to Taipei. I told him about living near the University near a place we called “Army...” And, he finished my sentence by saying “Hill.” I asked him, “Do they still....” and before I could finish that sentence, he said, “Yes, there is still a goat on top of the hill.”

If you turned to the left just after Army Hill, you went down along a binjo ditch and came into the houses. They were grouped in twos, for the most part, with a common wall. Our house was a pretty solid house. We shared a wall with the Chinese Major General, whose family was extremely nice in that they allowed me to scale the wall between our houses almost any time of day or night.
Near our house there was a Chinese Army pom-pom gun installation. I believe it was a “105mm” twin gun.

As an 8 and 9 year-old American boy, I used to go over there, and the soldiers would let me get into the seat and operate the gun (however, they never let me slide the red switch cover over the trigger and fire it. Once I actually got to be the gunner during their monthly alert when a plane circled Army Hill. If that pilot had known I was down there, with shells loaded in the barrels, I doubt that he would have ever flown over us again. There was another pom-pom gun on a hill. This gun was in the middle of a cemetery, where I would watch as soldiers would, while family members watched, dig-up the bones of the deceased, scrub off the bones, and rebury them.

To me it seemed this gun was two miles from home, but I guess it was only 450 yards through the rice patties. My mother always seemed at ease to let me wander the neighborhood.
.
When I went away from the house any distance, I took a English Springer Spaniel that a Chinese Air Force Colonel had loaned to my Dad for hunting. After we got “Chipper,” we discovered he wasn’t much of a hunting dog because he was extremely gun shy; however, he was very protective of me. If you walked-up to me or got within six feet without me saying, “It’s OK Chipper,” he would bite and keep biting the other person, as my girlfriend and our cook/houseboy could attest.

After a year, we moved to Tien-mu.
.
Taipei was a wonderful. I learned how to barter at the “Black Market,” how candy, biscuits, pharmaceuticals and records were made from the factories near our first home.
.
I made friends with other children such as the daughter of the head of the pharmaceutical factory (and got exposed to chewable vitamins before anyone else I knew) and male friends who lived nearby...some in concrete houses, others in “houses” with tin and straw roofs.

The McAdams home outside of Taipei Air Station in the Wen Shan District, circa 1958.

The McAdams home in Tien-mu circa 1959/1960

Another aspect of our stay was the fighting on Quemoy and Matsu. The tensions were high, and I remember seeing my dad having a Colt 45. About one-half of the servicemen with families sent their families back home.

.

We toughed it out. If you look at the picture of the house at Tien-mu, you will notice that I have a rifle resting on my shoulder.... I guess I was our last level of defense for our house (G).

.

Sorry to go on-and-on, but some of your readers may enjoy the remembrances of a young boy in Taipei from 1958-1960.

.

George McAdams

Sheffield, AL

Information on Lost Grandmother

A young woman contacted me asking for information on AFNT, explaining that she was trying to find information on her Grandmother.

These photographs were taken at the 15th Anniversary Celebration of the Armed Forces Network Taiwan (AFNT) in 1969. The Grandmother is the young lady standing on the left side of this photo with the longer hair.

She worked at AFNT as a secretary and translator. She also hosted and modeled in a television show that came on every Wednesday called "Fashion Show" on TTV around 1965-1966.

If you recognize this woman or have any information or know of anyone who was at AFNT during this period, please forward the blog URL to them. You can contact me at TaipeiAirStation@hawaii.rr.com.