Former US serviceman Tom Jones sent these around and eventually they made their way to me. Here's his story in Chinese. Visions of a lost Taiwan, in color. The last dozen plates are from his round the island scooter trip. Enjoy by clicking on READ MORE below:
現在小朋友對於早期的台灣，都只能透過零碎的照片、以及長輩口述拼湊出樣貌。最近網路上流傳一位美國大兵 Tom Jones 在46(1957)到47(1958)年間駐守台灣時所拍攝的一系列照片，可看到與現在大不同的台北，以及各旅遊景點的早期樣貌。
Tom Jones 早期在美軍服役，並於46(1957)到47(1958)年間隨著美軍顧問團來台駐守台灣發射站。這位老兄顯然很喜歡攝影，拍下大量50年代的台灣。他在2006年將這些半世紀前的照片，分享到 Picasa 「1957-58 Taiwan」相簿，最近被台灣網友發現後大量轉載，引起一股懷舊旋風。
Tom Jones 以外國人的眼光，拍下50年代的純樸台灣，看似百無聊賴的建築、街景、風景畫面，過了半世紀後卻顯得格外珍貴。這位老兄除了勤拍照，也勤做筆記(或記憶力很好)，許多照片都添上正確的地名、路名、建築名稱，讓年輕的一代見證難以想像的半世紀前的台灣。
Tom comes to Taiwan in a Douglas DC-6B
First, to Japan.....
...where he got some pics of cinema adverts.
Tom in the good old days.
Taipei area from the air.
Zhongshan N Rd in center looking north toward Grass Mountain (now Yangmingshan).
Coming into Taipei International Airport.
Keelung River.
Taipei
Zhongshan N Rd.
Keelung River and Ba De Rd.
Looking off to Da Zhi and the Keelung River.
Taipei Bridge.
Zhongshan N. Rd. Sec 3, #21. The building is still extant, apparently.
Taipei street scene.
Taipei street scene.
Taipei street scene.
Taipei street scene.
Taipei street scene.
Tom Jones' living quarters.
Oxcarts on a Taipei street.
Some things never change, just the mode of transportation.
In Taipei.
US military bus.
Clearly, not enough girls at the swimming pool.
Tom Jones' house on Yangmingshan.
Yangmingshan (Grass Mountain). Jones' house is in the center.
Looking out over the Taipei Basin
Keelung R.
Steamers on the Keelung R.
Xindian, Bitan
Xindian, Bitan
Xindian, Bitan
Xindian, Bitan
Xindian, Bitan
Mucha, Zhinan Temple
Mucha, Zhinan Temple
Wanli, looking towards Keelung
Guanyingshan
Guanyingshan
Dadunshan at left.
Looking down on Taipei
3/4 ton truck, US military
AN/GRC-26 radio trucks (
here for explanation).
The
General Edwin O. Patrick berthed at Keelung, picking up the radio trucks for transport to Matsu
Matsu from the sea
Matsu
Matsu
vvv
Matsu
Matsu
Matsu
American diggings, local labor
Inside a radio truck.
Americans playing volleyball
Tom Jones at right.
Matsu
Matsu
Flying back to Taiwan
Round the island trip on Vespa and Lambretta scooters
On the road from Taipei to I-lan
Elementary school in Suao
The absolutely terrifying Suhua Highway
Suhua highway
Taimali
Kaohsiung
Tainan
Anping fort, Tainan
Traffic circle in Chiayi
Guanziling fire and water spring
Taichung
Sun Moon Lake
Linkou
Tom Jones today
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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.
Cool set of photos! That building along Zhongshan N. Rd still appears on Google Streetview, albeit plastered with ugly signage.
ReplyDeleteThis was shared on a Taiwanese forum a while ago:
ReplyDeletehttp://space.putao.com.tw/putao/listChatReply.do?post.id=46194
How come you uploaded these photos on your Flickr? Did Tom Jones give you the licence to do so?
K.B.
I uploaded them to Flickr so I could put them on the blog, and so there would be alternate storage for them, since things vanish from the net. As far as I know, they are not copyrighted. Credit was given to Tom Jones. I only stored them. If Tom has a problem, he can easily contact me.
ReplyDeleteThanks Micheal and Thanks to Tom
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to piss you off, but please appreciate the irony in your post: "Visions of a lost Taiwan"... and then among the photos are ones from Kinmen.
ReplyDeleteDon't you know that Kinmen has never been a part of Taiwan, ever?
It's funny and ironic since the new PRC passport is a constant issue on your blog...
I wanna recommend for Picklimo, they are so flexible so far I know.
ReplyDeleteParty bus DC
I loved the pictures. I lived with my family in Taipei from 1956-1963. I arrived when I was 7 yrs old and left at age 15. Somewhere, there are photo albums of Taipei and the surrounding areas in my Mom's house. I have not located them, yet. My Dad, who has since passed, was an amateur photographer.
ReplyDeleteI started a Blog on Word Press chronicling our experiences in Taipei. If anyone is curious checkout oolongkiko.wordpress.com
Hi Mr Jones.
ReplyDeleteI was born in Taipei in 1958 and my mother is from Yelan. We moved to Hawaii in 1960 when my Mom married William Lung. From what I'm told my Dad may have been "Red" Roberts and a Radioman Seaman at that time. I really would like to find my father. My name is Sandy, they used to call me Cindy. sanlung3@gmail.com (808) 864-3794
That is a nice selection from my pictures of Taiwan. The captions are not mine and are great except that is not my house in Yangminshan! The collection of 354 pictures are in the Taipei Central Library. These were selected from the original 483 Kodachrome slides.
ReplyDeleteTom Jones