Veteran Tsai Yu-jen (蔡裕仁), 79, can still vividly recall the night five decades ago when he fired his machine gun at Chinese infiltrators swimming off the coast of Kinmen County’s Dadan Island (大膽島).
Tsai shared his story at a veterans’ reunion on Dec. 20 at Kinmen Airport, where they marked the 60th anniversary of the 823 Artillery Bombardment.
The bombardment, also known as the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, was a battle in which China fired more than 470,000 shells at Kinmen over 44 days in 1958, although intermittent shelling continued well into 1979.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
Tsai said that he was keeping the midnight-to-2am watch when he spotted an unfamiliar boat approaching shore through the moonlight, adding that he alerted his superiors and was granted permission to fire.
Firing machine-gun bursts into the boat, he saw two “bogies” swimming away underwater, as its driver escaped ashore and found cover behind some rocks, he said.
The boat was riddled with hundreds of bullets by the time other soldiers captured the driver, a Chinese fisherman who kept saying that he was forced to take the job to make ends meet, Tsai added.
Veteran Wu Chung-ho (鄔中和), 72, said he arrived on Kinmen in 1963 to serve as a sergeant in an armored unit.
By that time, Kinmen was resupplied by airdrop, with Chinese artillery strikes coming in whenever the cargo planes flew overhead, he said, adding: “It was as if Kimen was an island made of flames. The shells wreaked havoc with the residents and their property.”
Veteran Chien Wu-nan (簡武男), 76, who was in the coast guard in Shamei Village (沙美), said bombardments were a daily occurrence.
“They shelled Kinmen on odd days and held their fire on even days, so the political officer would have the men gather up the propaganda leaflets and the shell casings on the mornings of the even days,” he said.
Residents would later use the casings to make Kinmen’s famously sharp kitchen knives, Chien said.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
RSS