The ashes of five military servicemen who died during intelligence and surveillance missions during the Cold War were enshrined at the Martyrs' Shrine in Taipei yesterday with full military honors.
The three pilots and two paratroopers were part of the Air Force's crack 34th and 35th squadrons (informally known as the Black Cats and Black Bats respectively) that together flew more than 1,000 missions over Chinese territory between 1953 and 1974.
The ceremony was officiated by Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) and included dozens of family members and surviving squadron members, many of them are well into their eighties.
“I was extremely sad that after all our comrades sacrificed for this country, their ashes lay in a foreign land for so long. The government has finally brought them back and put them to rest. I now feel content and relieved,” 82 year-old Hu Tien-peng (胡天鵬), a former paratrooper, told reporters.
The reconnaissance Black Cat Squadron flew 220 missions in US- supplied U-2 spy planes between 1961 and 1974, gathering key intelligence over strategic sites in China.
A spy plane piloted by a member of the Black Cat squadron is believed to have been one of the first to gather evidence of China's nuclear weapons development program.
Ten members of the squadron lost their lives during the period and two more were captured by communist forces and only released in 1982.
Meanwhile, the Black Bat Squadron, operational between 1953 and 1972, worked with the CIA to drop agents and gather military intelligence in China.
In total, the squadron flew 838 missions over China during the period, losing 148 crew members and 15 aircraft. Paratroopers with the squadron also supported US forces during the Vietnam War between 1967 and 1972.
Some of the servicemen from the Black Bat Squadron remain unaccounted for and their remains are believed to still be in China.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS