1961 Taiwan Telephone Book

LTC Scott Ellinger again has provided some very interesting material. It is the 1961 Taiwan military telephone book, and it is extensive.

NOTE: Drop me an e-mail and you'll be sent the 2 PDF Adobe files containing the 111 page book.





This Taipei map isn't to scale, but it shows locations that may not have been on later maps.

Some of the pages were scanned just to identify the locations covered.

MAAG, USTDC and every branch of the U.S. military and every location on the island where a telephone was located is included.

From the kitchen to the commanding officer, you will find a number where they could be reached.

It's impressive how, in 15 years, the U.S. presence in Taiwan had grown and just how thorough the landline connections were throughout the island.

. . . From here to there . . .

Some are universal military abbreviations, and some are unique to Taiwan.

Following The Tourists

In 1968, there didn't appear to be many tourists coming to Taipei. Not only was a war going on, but Taipei didn't seem to be geared up as a tourist destination.

Then, in 1969, we began to see Mercedes buses making their way up the mountain to the Yangmingshan vicinity. Behind the tinted windows were the faces of tourists. 

So, before our time in Taiwan was over, we decided to follow one of the buses around and see what Taipei was offering. Some of the destinations were new to us, some not. 



Here is the description of what we were to see according to our guide book.



We had seen the National Museum of History from the outside before, but had never gone in.

So, check off museum number one.



Next door to the National Museum were the botanical gardens. From this address, they were literally adjacent.



We could have skipped this part, but we had to stay in line with our fellow tourists.



Neither of us can remember going in here, but the last paragraph on the page above explains why we probably did.

So, now we're in the park area, where we had visited several times before.

We remembered it in our scrapbook as Longevity Park, so one of us had to have been paying attention. 

The sky was actually blue that day, but rubber cement from another album page made its way onto this picture.

It was a very relaxing park as these gentlemen demonstrate.



This is an aerial shot of the museum and Longevity Park today.

It is part of the 228 Peace Park.

This is one of the locomotives described above. My understanding is that it still rests in that park today.

The unofficial bridge-stander surveys the park. Today, this park may be part of 228 Peace Memorial Park, a reference to a dark time in early Taiwanese-ROC relations.

Beneath this picture in our scrapbook, it says "National Library." Nothing can be found to lend any credence to that label.



This is the same building as the picture just above. When we visited the center in 1969, it was the National Taiwan Science Education Center.

The exhibits outgrew the building's size, and the museum was relocated in 2003. Today, it stands vacant as the fence around it would attest.



We had been past this museum hundreds of times, but never visited it until we attached ourselves to the tourists.

Long before this, they had caught onto our ploy, but still accepted us as members of their group.

This is how the National Palace Museum looked in 1969. There were no other buildings around it. The entire area was clearly visible from the road.

After this museum, we were ready to hit the road and go home. How many museums can you visit in one day and still keep your sanity?

Visiting The Sponsoree

For those of you who believe in coincidences, this would be one. In any event, this seemed a little ironic back in 1969.

My cousin and her husband have kept in contact with us over the decades, even though we very seldom see them.

So, back in 1969, when they found that we were going to be living in Taiwan, they had some news for us.

They were sponsoring a girl from Taipei through the Christian Children's Fund, which is now called Child Fund International.

So, we contacted the local agency and made plans to visit this young girl they were sponsoring.

We picked up the CCF director and headed toward their residence.



It's a good thing the supervisor was along with us as we would never have found the place. It was in southeast Taipei in a typical neighborhood.



We were certainly expected. We went inside and talked through the supervisor and then had pictures taken. Three generations were living together.

Grandfather had on a freshly laundered white shirt, and the little sister was wearing the cute yellow dress. Grandmother kept mostly in the background, but did agree to pose for the group shot.

The girl Diane and Tom were sponsoring was about 11 or 12. The mother worked in a cigarette factory. There was no indoor plumbing.

Our guide and interpreter is in this shot which was taken shortly before we left. He kept referring to the girl as "he" which was distracting to us. The cab driver was waiting.

So, that was a weekend afternoon in August of 1969. We wonder what that girl is doing now. She would be in her early 50s.