Reconnaissance in Formosa

"Keep your chin up, we're going to win," said Douglas MacArthur as he bade farewell to Chiang Kaishek. Then, as China's Generalissimo beamed and haoed, the U.S. Far East Commander flew off in his C-54 Bataan for Tokyo.

MacArthur called his one-day visit to Formosa "a short reconnaissance of the potential of its defense against possible attack." Acting under Washington's order to guard the island against Communist invasion, he promised "effective coordination between American forces under my command and those of the Chinese government." As for Chiang's offer to send Nationalist troops to Korea, MacArthur replied that they were more needed in Formosa's defense.

Three days later, while Taipei crowds looked up and cheered and China's chief of staff, General Chou Chih-jou, literally jigged in delight at Hsinchu air base, six U.S. F80 Shooting Star jets streaked over from the Philippines. Also from the Philippines came Major General Howard M. Turner, commander of the U.S. Thirteenth Air Force, and from Tokyo came Brigadier General Alonzo P. Fox, Deputy Chief of Staff for the U.S. Far East Command; they would make a more detailed survey, expedite U.S. aid, set up a liaison staff. Coordination would probably include a Nationalist armed forces training program under U.S. officers.

Madame Chiang, who had shared in her husband's talks with MacArthur, voiced the new Nationalist feeling: "It now seems the turning point has been reached . . . The United States is not going to let an ally down . . ."

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