U-2 & a Birthday

The Red Chinese may be a long way from building an atom bomb, but their antiaircraft techniques appear effective enough. Last year they shot down a Nationalist U-2 reconnaissance plane, one of a pair sold to Formosa by the U.S. in 1960. Last week, on the day after Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's 76th birthday, Peking announced that it had shot down the other U-2 over the mainland.

Otherwise the old fighter's birthday seemed serene. At his hilltop residence outside Taipei, Chiang spent the day quietly with his family and followed Chinese custom by eating the traditional "longevity noodles." The most elaborate birthday gift came from a group of wealthy Chinese living in Thailand: $750,000 for a basketball stadium in Taipei. In island-wide celebrations, a choral group of 10,000 soldiers sang birthday songs, toasts were proposed for Chiang's health at thousands of dinners, and a spruce detachment of Nationalist Chinese "WAVES" paraded smartly. Chiang still clings to an old hope. Spotting a veteran Western newsman at a reception, Chiang said, "I'll never forget that you were the last correspondent with us on the mainland, and I want you to be the first with us when we go back."

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