Digital museum showcasing the collection of worldwide legends over the years! 千古不朽博物館展示多年來收藏的世界傳奇故事!
Spencer Moosa
Formosa memorial badge
史賓塞·穆沙
台灣紀念章
Item number: M249
Year: AD 1954
Size: 40.3 x 40.3 x 1.7 mm
Weight: 17.95 g
Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2013
This is a commemorative badge from AD 1954 (43rd year of the Republic of China), privately commissioned by Spencer Moosa, a reporter for the Associated Press stationed in Taipei, as a gift to his friends. The badge is entirely black, with the obverse centre featuring a depiction of Taiwan Island inscribed with the Chinese characters “台湾” (Taiwan). The bottom edge displays the manufacturing year “1954,” while the top edge bears the inscription “FORMOSA,” a name commonly used in the Western world to refer to Taiwan.
The name Formosa, meaning “beautiful island,” originated during the Age of Discovery when Portuguese sailors, impressed by the island’s lush vegetation, exclaimed “Ilha Formosa.”
The reverse of the medal is inscribed with “WITH BEST WISHES FROM SPENCER MOOSA”, and the lower edge is engraved with the location “TAIPEI.”
In AD 1905, Spencer Moosa was born in British colonial India. His career in journalism began with Reuters in the UK. From AD 1931 onwards, he joined the American Associated Press, specialising in reporting on the increasingly tense situation in the Far East. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Moosa relocated with the Nationalist Government from Shanghai to the wartime capital of Chongqing, staying with his wife at the “Chongqing Foreign Correspondents’ Club,” which was specifically arranged for foreign journalists. While in Chongqing, Moosa noticed his secretary clipping the nickname “Flying Tigers” from a Chinese newspaper, referring to the “First American Volunteer Group.” Moosa used this nickname in his telegrams to the United States, thereby popularising the “Flying Tigers” name worldwide.
After the end of the Sino-Japanese War, Moosa remained in China to monitor the new developments in the Chinese Civil War. In AD 1949, as the Nationalist Government was on the verge of collapse on the mainland, Moosa was among the few foreign journalists to witness the fall of Beijing. Later that year, he accompanied Chiang Kai-shek on one of the last four planes evacuating to Taiwan.
After relocating to Taipei, Moosa maintained close interactions with key officials and news departments of the Republic of China government. In AD 1953, as an Associated Press journalist, he interviewed Chiang Kai-shek at the Presidential Office, discussing his views on the newly elected US President Eisenhower. By the 1970s, Moosa, then a resident journalist in Taiwan, had joined The Times of London. He was among the first to report on the reactions of the Republic of China government and the Taiwanese public following Taiwan’s expulsion from the United Nations.
According to historical materials from Taiwan’s Academia Historica, Spencer Moosa had close interactions with Chiang Ching-kuo, the second-in-command of the Republic of China. In March AD 1973, Moosa received tea from Premier Chiang Ching-kuo through the Information Minister. In December of the same year, Moosa’s ailing wife was successfully admitted to Taipei Veterans General Hospital for treatment, arranged by Chiang Ching-kuo. Moosa spent his final years in Taiwan and was recorded as working with Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau in AD 1987. On May 18, AD 1990, having witnessed many significant events in the history of the Republic of China, Moosa passed away in a Taipei hospital due to cardiopulmonary disease at the age of 85.