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.
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