USASTRATCOM

This blog was created for USASTRATCOM Long Lines Battalion Army personnel who served in Taiwan during the 1965-72 time frame. Specifically, those who lived and worked in and around Taipei are the target. If you worked at the Grass Mountain or Gold Mountain facilities or anywhere in downtown Taipei, we would like to hear from you. All are welcome to visit and contribute to this blog. Your comments and pictures are encouraged.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

East Compound, Taipei, Taiwan

There are several pictures of the main East Compound that appear in most everyone's Taiwan blog or website.

These few are being added since they give another look of not just the buildings, but also the cars in the parking lot and the movie being shown.
Taken from across the street, this picture shows the main entrance to the East Compound on a hot summer day.




Photo by, and courtesy of Marvin Faulkner

Across from the East Compound again, this picture isn't redundant.

Look closely and you can easily see that this was taken during the Christmas season with all the decorations. It was December of 1968.


APO 96263 had an annex back of it as well.

With the hot dog and cold drink vendor near the entrance, the commissary was always a place with long checkout lines.


Notice the red AMC Javelin in the parking lot near the PX. How about its brothers, the Marlin and the Pacer?


Not only was this building the PX Annex to the left, but there was a currency exchange on the right. That large truck sold ice cream, food and drinks, as I remember

The annex was where I tried to buy caulk and a caulk gun. Maybe I should have asked for putty as caulk was not known to them.


It was actually called the East West Theater, and the movie that night was The Helicopter Spies, staring Robert Vaughn. It was a pretty big hit as it was a takeoff on his role as The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  David McCallum (NCIS) was also in it.

Does anyone else remember emerging from the theater after the late movie on a hot summer night and being engulfed by the pervasive smell of the nearby benjo ditch?

To the right of the theater was the library. Left of the theater was a small path which led to the other part of the East Compound and Mr. Loo's tailoring shop. 


4 comments:

  1. Great photos. Thanks for posting them.

    Don

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was a Navy Radioman at USTDC 1967-68. Lived in the Signal Compound Barracks. Most of my buddys were Army Signal corp. Wish I could locate them. Mickey Stetler, From Pennsylvania. Mead Buffington from Harrisburg, PA. Barton from New England states and many others. My email:wroadman@gmail.com
    William Roadman

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm a little bit curious about the two smiling faces on the wall of the U.S. Navy Exchange in the fifth photo. Can someone tell me what they stand for? Or they're just a way to say welcome?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Victor,
    Leave it to you to study the PX pictures. Since it was run by the Navy, maybe they are just two happy sailors. "Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." (Freud)
    John

    ReplyDelete