Bullet holes

Mr 周明德Chou Ming-Der, the famed Tamsui historian and renowned meteorologist, took this picture in 2000. It shows a house with bullet holes, a reminder of US air raids in 1944-45. This was Mr 洪開元Hong Kai-Yuan's house, built with 36.4-cm bricks, different from the conventional 24-cm walls, hence no damages to the interior:

This house was located diagonally across Chung Chen Road from MaZu Temple媽祖宮.

In the absence of air defense, American fighter-bombers, after finishing their scheduled bombing runs elsewhere in Taiwan, often unloaded their unspent ammunition on Tamsui which happened to be a landmark on their return routes.

Mr Chou's father Mr 周炳銘 was among the 20 Tamsui-lang killed in the air raid of Oct 12, 1944, that had targeted the seaplane port, although other parts of Tamsui were also attacked.

For much more on the old Tamsui, please see Mr Chou's new book: