Kaohsiung Port Call in the Summer of 1954 - Part 1

My friend Scott Ellinger came across a group of photographs taken by David Putnam, a US Naval Officer, who served on the USS Tolovana AO-64, a Fleet Oilier, which pulled into Kaohsiung Harbor in the summer of 1954.

We were able to make contact with Mr. Putman and he granted us permission to display his beautiful photographs on this blog.

Thank you Mr. Putnam, we are privileged to bring these scenes from the south of Taiwan  to our readers.

David Putnam recalls, " I was on an all-expense-paid trip to Kaohsiung in 1954"

USS Tolovana, anchored in Kaohsiung Harbor in 1954. Our mission was to refuel the destroyers that were on patrol in the Formosa Strait guarding Taiwan from Communist Chinese aggression. The enemy was regularly shelling the islands of Quimoi and Matsu and overflying Taiwan with military aircraft.

A tug boat cruising the Kaohsiung harbor.

Commercial Tanker tied up at Kaohsiung Harbor.

USS Henderson DD-785 anchored in Kaohsiung

A new Fishing Boat is launched. (Editor: Not sure of location)



Bum boats alongside our ship (USS Tolovana AO-64) in Kaohsiung in 1954.



We carried these two liberty launches plus the Captain's Gig and a motor whaleboat.      (Editor:  Not sure of location)



We used this truck in Taiwan. It was driven from Kaohsiung to Taipei and back, a trip I would have loved to have taken.     (Editor:  Not sure of location)

Here we are back at the dock in Kaohsiung waiting to board our liberty launch for the ride back to our ship after a day of sightseeing in Tainan.  That's our bus in the background and our Shore Patrol Jeep in the foreground.



One of many fishing boats transiting the harbor at Kaohsiung in 1954. This is the best shot I have of the cityscape.

This is the tour bus we rode on our sight seeing trip from Kaohsiung to Tainan.

We had a sightseeing trip as the guest of the Mayor of Kaohsiung and visited an Aborigine village. This is the swing bridge to Aborigine country. They lived in the mountains. 
The Taiwan government maintained a school in this village to educate Aborigine children.

This is a view along the street of the Aborigine village where a dance was performed in honor of our skipper and arranged by the mayor of Kaohsiung, who hosted this sight seeing excursion.

 

Captain Crowley, our skipper, is being honored by these Aborigine school girls.

Many more photographs from David Putnam in our next post.

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