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SHARKHUNTERS
Salutes Veterans
Here we tell you about veterans in Membership with a short biography and if we
have no photos.
4-1983 WALTER SCHWEIDER, United States Army.
Shipped aboard RMS QUEEN MARY for the ride to the South Pacific to
fight against the Japanese.
5-1983 MIKE EPSTEIN, United States Army, 82nd
Airborne. Was crew chief on helicopters. After his service, became
a real estate tycoon in Chicago. He founded and was Executive Director of
the IAAV (International Association of Airborne Veterans) and organized jump
trips in many countries for military jump qualified veterans who jumped with the
army of that country.
6-1983 BILL CRAWFORD, United States Navy, UDT.
BILL was the owner/operator of a large and successful scuba dive shop in
Key Largo for many years.
9-1983 ALBERT ROHDE, Kriegsmarine. The radioman aboard U-957 and later aboard U-2551,
both under command of Gerd Schaar.
12-1983 JOHN WATTS, United States Army, Intelligence.
JOHN was a translator in the 1950's; office in the I. G. Farben Building.
13-1983 BILL REED, United States Navy, destroyer
veteran. After his service, BILL founded a company (RamCo) that
built very high-tech and very expensive mirrors for upscale motorhomes.
They were heated and did not vibrate - his mirrors were standard equipment on
coaches that cost one million dollars and more. BILL was a
multi-millionaire but he never acted that way - he was just one of the guys.
BILL served on our Sharkhunters Advisory Board.
CLICK TO VISIT OUR ADVISORS PAGE
14-1983 GOTTFRIED KÖNIG, Kriegsmarine.
Kapitänleutnant KÖNIG was I.W.O. aboard U-181 at the end of
the war.
21-1983 HORST BREDOW, Kriegsmarine. Was
commissioned late in the war. HORST is the founder and director of
the U-Boat Archives in Germany, an incredible archive filled with huge amounts
of documents, photos and more.
30-1984 RICHARD FREITAG, United States Navy,
Submarines. DICK rode USS BLUEBACK during the war,
but his biggest contribution to this history came in the early 1950's in
Chicago. DICK was a major asset getting U-505 to
Chicago and doing a large part of the boat's restoration.
33-1984 GÜNTHER PAGENSTECHER, Kriegsmarine, U-Boats.
II.W.O. aboard U-234
35-1985 CHARLES HIGHAM, Researcher, Author,
highly regarded expert on secret parts of WW II
38-1984 DIETRICH-ALFRED von dem BORNE, Kriegsmarine,
U-Boats; Gunnery Officer U-156. On a peaceful Sunday
morning, U-156 lay just offshore Aruba in the Caribbean, ready to
destroy the fuel tanks at Standard Oil's Lago Refinery with the 10.5cm deck gun.
A family was walking past the tanks on their way to church, so von dem BORNE
held fire to let them safely pass. When he gave the order to fire, the
deck gun exploded and steel splinters flew everywhere - he had forgotten to
remove the watertight plug in the muzzle! The gunner was dead and von
dem BORNE's foot was blown off. Strangely, Hartenstein did not rush
U-156 back to Lorient and his base with the 2nd U-Bootflottille but
rather to the French island of Martinique in the Caribbean - at a time when
Roosevelt and Churchill believed that this island and others were all too
friendly with German ships and U-Boats. von dem BORNE steadfastly
refused to tell us anything about that Feindfahrt (war patrol).
55-1985 ZEL EATON; retired "Spook"; served ten
years on our Advisory Boatd.
TO THE ADVISORS PAGE
70-1984 STEVE TOMAN, United States Navy.
STEVE served a hitch in the U. S. Navy in the capacity of an eye doctor.
71-1984 SIEGFRIED-FRANZ GROßMANN, Hitler Youth
72-1984 PAUL POLIDORI, United States Army Air
Force. PAUL was a 'JUG' pilot.....he flew a P-47
Thunderbolt in Europe during the war. After the war, he returned to the
family farm in Mundelein, Illinois (outside Chicago) and began to buy warbirds.
They were cheap - usually just pay for the fuel in the tanks. He built an
air museum with its own airstrip and parked all along the strip were fighter
planes and medium bombers of the USAAF, the RAF and he even had six ME 109's
in crates. He was flying his Cessna 172 over his air museum at about 1,200
feet when his passenger suffered a massive heart attack. This passenger, a
big man slumped forward on the controls, putting the plane into a nose dive and
at that low altitude, there was no way to recover.
73-1984 JAK MALLMANN SHOWELL is a highly accomplished
researcher/writer of the history of the U-Bootwaffe. His biological
father, Jakob Mallmann, was lost in combat aboard U-377. His
mother later married a British submariner named Showell.
79-1984 DAVID BERNAHL was a linebacker for the Chicago
Bears then for the Dallas Cowboys. After football he became an importer of
diamonds and other jewels.
84-1984 HERB SPOHR, United States Marines.
87-LIFE-1985 FRAN DARCANGELO; United States Air
Force Intelligence
89-1985 JOACHIM GRUTZMANN, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe. He was the Editor of "Schaltung Küste", the
magazine of the VDU (Verband Deutschen U-Bootfahrer or German Submarine Veterans
Association). The magazine title means 'Switching the Coast'.....when the
U-Boats returned from a Feindfahrt (war patrol) and got close to the French
coast in the Bay of Biscay, they would switch their radio receivers from one
base to another to triangulate their position along the coast and thereby plot
their course to their homeport.
101-1985 Professor MICHAEL GANNON, former history
professor at University of Florida; an author who wrote "Rebel Bishop", "Operation
Drumbeat" and "Black May"
106-1985 HEINZ F-K GUSKE
Kriegsmarine, U-Bootwaffe. He was initially attached the FdU headquarters
in Kerneval just outside Lorient on the Brittany coast as a Funkgefreiter
(radioman). He rode U-764, also as radioman and caused quite
a stir many years after the end of the war. He wrote a book entitled "The
Logbook of U-764" in which he claimed that Captain von Bremen
falsified his log entries and claimed some attacks when he did not even fire any
torpedoes. We met with Captain von Bremen and he said that the claims made
by GUSKE in his book were totally false. von Bremen reminded us
that he had to write the entry in the ship's log then it had to be
counter-signed by the Officer of the Watch and also the Torpedo Officer.
Then entries had to be made in the torpedo firing book, listing each torpedo
fired by serial number, when it was fired and under what circumstances and that
book also had to be counter signed by those two officers.
The crew members we spoke with also said that it was
impossible to falsify the logbook in such a fashion; that everyone would know of
it. It was also stated that GUSKE was quite radical in his beliefs
and was not well liked by most of the crew.
117-1985 J. deNAVARRE MACOMB United States
Navy, Intelligence.
119-1985 WILLIAM BOWNE United States
Navy. Lt. Cdr. BOWNE was a fighter pilot flying off USS
GUADALCANAL during the hunt for and subsequent capture of U-505.
131-1985 NEIL COSENTINO, United States Navy fighter
pilot.
133-1985 WALTER KNOCH, Kriegsmarine; minesweeper
crewman.
134-1985 ED MACK, United States Navy. Gunnery
officer on USS BIG HORN which was a tanker made over into a "Q"
ship.
135-1985 Mrs. EILEEN CARRON, Publisher of the
Nassau TRIBUNE and daughter of Sir ETIENNE duPUCH (153-1985).
Sharkhunters President HARRY COOPER wrote some articles for the Tribune
about the drug smugglers in the Bahamas while he lived there on his sailboat -
including the time he was caught taking photographs on a remote island and was
nearly shot by drug smugglers.
138-1985 JOHN McLAUGHLIN; Known as "Big John",
an underwater photographer who worked with RICOU BROWNING (60-1984) on
many projects, including "Passion in Paradise" which covered the
wartime murder of Sir Harry Oakes in which his son-in-law Count ALFREDO di
MARIGNY (2172-1992) was the one and only suspect.
142-1985 HANS GARTMANN, Kriegsmarine
145-1985 TED TURNER, founder of CNN, businessman,
yachtsman
146-1985 Professor TOM MACKIN, High School
Music Director, he conducted his band in the 'Kretschmer March';
the first time this stirring piece of music was heard since the end of World War
Two. TOM served ten years on our Advisory Board.
TO THE ADVISORS PAGE
150-1985 Professor JÜRGEN ROHWER,
Historian
157-1985 KARL-ERNST PFAFF, Cargo Officer aboard
U-234 when they surrendered in the USA with a top-secret cargo
consigned to the Japanese Army. Among the human cargo was Luftwaffe
General Ulrich Kessler and his staff, a Navy Fleet Judge named Kai Nessling, two
Japanese officers/technicians, Dr. HEINZ SCHLICKE (1820-1991) who was one
of the world's leading scientists in his field.
163-1986 JOCHEN AHME, Kriegsmarine.
JOCHEN rode the U-Boats and many years later, he was Editor in Chief of the
magazine of the U-Boat Veterans, "Schaltung Küste" which means 'Switching
the Coast". When the boats would reach the outer limits of the Bay of
Biscay, they would switch from radio channel to radio channel to get a line on
the various radio transmitters and by triangulation, could determine their
position. He always made sure that a copy of this magazine was sent to
Sharkhunters Headquarters.
166-1986 MARC COHEN, United States Navy, Seabees.
Served ten years on our Advisory Board.
TO THE ADVISORS PAGE
170-1986 HARRY SCHONAU, He was Skipper of his own
one-man submarine at the end of the war.
171-1986 MEL FISHER, Treasure Hunter. He
found the sunken treasure ship ATOCHA but his son was killed in
the salvage operation.
179-1986 EDWARD RUMPF, one of the world's leading
experts on the Arctic Sea U-Boats. EDDIE served ten years on our Sharkhunters Advisory Board and you can see the Board
Members by clicking here
TO THE ADVISORS PAGE
180-1986 MAX JUSTO GUEDES; Rear Admiral, Navy of
Brazil
181-1986 HANS GRÄBERT, U-Bootfahrer
187-1986 HUGH LATHAM, Commander, U. S. Navy
188-1986 FRANZ SCHATTAUER, U-Bootfahrer
189-1986 MARTIN SCHAEFFER, U. S. Navy Submarine
veteran. MARTY was an open, gregarious guy who always managed to
insert himself into any and all photos being taken at any gathering or reunion.
He was instrumental in getting a plaque honoring the 3,505 U.S. Navy submarine
sailors lost in the war placed at the German Navy Memorial in Kiel. He
worked very hard to have these plaques placed at many such Memorials and was
tireless at keeping the memories of the United States Navy Submarine Service
alive. Some years ago he was on his way to another such effort and, as a
retiree from the American Military, he was entitled to fly free from an
American base. He was early for his plane so he walked across the street
to a coffee shop and got some refreshments to take along on the flight. He
stepped into the street right in the path of an oncoming vehicle that could not
stop in time.....................
201-1986 "ROCK" ROCKCASTLE - United States
Navy.
204-1986 RICHARD COLE - United States Navy
208-1986 MASON LOGIE - Scuba diver who spent a
great deal of time diving the scuttled World War One German Fleet at Scapa Flow.
209-1986 OTTO DIETZ - Here was a really fun guy;
your stereotypical "swabbie" who was always chasing skirts or very drunk
- or both. His rating was Sanistaatsmaat (medical corpsman) and he was
initially assigned on board U-180, a really rare Type IX-D1 boat.
Only two of these boats were made - understandably so, as they were useless in
combat and so, were assigned various "mule" and "Spook" missions.
On one such mission, U-180 was transporting Indian Nationalist
Leader Subhas Chandras Bose and his assistant Dr. Hassan to a meeting with a
Japanese boat in the Indian Ocean. Since there was no combat and no
action, OTTO had a pretty easy time and spent many hours talking with
Bose and learning a lot about this plan to organize Indian prisoners of the
Japanese and send them against the British in the Far East. Unfortunately,
it also gave OTTO plenty of time to drink the booze he had hidden away
aboard.
On returning to the boat one night while dockside in
Bordeaux (the 12th U-Bootflottille), he was drunk and worse yet, some bottles
fell out from under his coat and smashed on the deck. That was too much,
and OTTO was transferred to a "punishment battalion" on the
Russian Front; sent there more or less to die in the snow. Fortunately for
OTTO, the Russian sniper wasn't a very good sniper and when OTTO
was shot, the wound was not fatal. He was sent back to hospital in Hamburg
where he recovered. Upon being fully recovered, the hospital would not let
him return to action - he was a medical corpsman and they kept him on duty there
in the hospital. Once again, fate smiled on him because he was in a safe
duty station, far from the battlefield.
Fate took another twist with OTTO. His
former I.W.O. from U-180 was dating one of the nurses in that
hospital and one day he came to see his girlfriend and there was his former
Sanistaatsmaat OTTO DIETZ. That was Oberleutnant zur See der
Reserve Harald Lange who was on his way to take command of U-505
and he needed a medical corpsman aboard, so he took OTTO with him.
There was the next twist of fate for OTTO. Late in the war when his
comrades were dying in huge numbers in the Battle of the Atlantic, OTTO
was captured when U-505 was captured on 4 June 1944. OTTO
was with us for several Sharkhunters "Patrols"....he was always
fun to have along and was a great guy.
219-1986 WERNER LANGNER, U-Bootfahrer
222-2985 HEINZ HOCH, U-Bootfahrer
223-1986 GROVER McLEOD, United States Navy,
Submarines
224-1986 FRANK TORRES, United States Navy,
Submarines. He always signed his letters DBF! (Diesel Boats Forever)
229-1986 KONRAD MÜLLER, U-Bootfahrer who
rode U-256
231-1987 NAOMI DESIDERIO, Author of books about
submarines
232-1987 MICHAEL WOOTEN, United States Marine
veteran and one of the most incredibly talented military artists we have ever
seen.
234-1987 HEINZ HASSE, U-Bootfahrer
238-1987 NAUTILUS SUBMARINE MUSEUM, U.S. Navy
242-1987 CARL KROCH - former partner of Kroch and
Brentanno's, at one time the largest single bookstore in the world.
243-1987 JOHN DOHR, United States Navy - WW
II combat destroyerman
244-1987 ROBERT NELSON, United States Coast Guard
in WW II
245-1987 FORREST DANA, United States Navy.
"BUD" served ten years on our Sharkhunters Advisory Board and you can see the Board
Members by clicking here
TO THE ADVISORS PAGE
265-1987 WARREN BROWN MD, United States Navy.
"DOC" BROWN served ten years on our Sharkhunters Advisory Board and you can see the Board
Members by clicking here
TO THE ADVISORS PAGE
267-1987 ANGELO FAGELLO, United States Navy,
combat submarine service in WW II
273-1987 MARCOS RIGOS, Greek navy, combat
submariner
276-1987 HEINZ FORSCHBACH, U-Bootwaffe - he rode
U-347 then U-1024
277-1987 GERARD PETERS, U-Bootwaffe - he
rode U-480 and U-163
278-1987 HEINZ RICHTER, U-Bootwaffe - he
rode U-352
279-1987 LOTHAR WESSOLY, U-Bootwaffe - he
rode U-352
280-1987 VINZ NOSCH, U-Bootwafe - he rode
U-68 then U-66
281-1987 KURT KRUGER, U-Bootwaffe - he rode
U-352
285-1987 TODD BOYERS, United States Navy,
Weapons Instructor
286-1987 HAROLD GAY, United States Army, Vietnam
chopper pilot, nephew of GEORGE GAY (3300-1993)
287-1987 BRITT SKOGSTAD, United States
Navy; Navigation Officer, USS SUNFISH
289-1987 HARRY CULLEN, United States Navy
(Ret.)
293-1987 WILLIAM BAUER, United States Navy
- he rode USS MUIR
295-1987 WILLIAM LEHMBECK, United States
Navy
296-1987 PAUL SAURER, United States Navy
299-1987 MIKE KOSS, researcher who know
more about U-235 than anyone
307-1991 FLOYD JACK, Major United States
Army
312-1987 DAVID GRAHAM, United States Coast
Guard - heavy North Atlantic combat action aboard USCGC SPENCER
317-1987 LOUIS CAFIERO, United States
Merchant Marine
319-1987 ARMOND NOBLE, United States Army,
Vietnam veteran, publisher of MILITARY Magazine
321-1987 RAY LANKHEIM, United States Navy.
RAY had several intersects with other Sharkhunters Members. He was a
gunner aboard sub chaser PC.565 off the U.S. east coast when they
sank U-521 on 2 June 1943. The only survivor of U-521
was the Skipper, KLAUS BARGSTEN (328-1987) and when he bobbed to the
surface, RAY swung his twin 20mm mount around to kill him - they were
under orders to kill all the U-Bootfahrer. He saw BARGSTEN
struggling in the water and he couldn't bring himself to, as he put it, to "kill
this poor bastard in the water" and BARGSTEN was taken prisoner.
During our Sharkhunters First Annual Convention (1987 Patrol in Paradise),
RAY and HANS-GEORG HESS (125-1985) became
friends and as they talked, they realized that HESS, Skipper of
U-995, fired two torpedoes at the destroyer RAY was aboard later
in the war. A lookout aboard the tin can spotted the torpedoes and they
swerved away from them. When RAY asked HESS what did he
think about missing, HESS slammed his hand down on the bar and said, "Well
I'm glad I missed! We have more time for beer now." Sadly, their
friendship lasted only six months - RAY got into an argument with his
next-door neighbor over a fence. The neighbor shot RAY
dead..........a sad ending for a veteran.
326-1987 JACK KAHN, Director of the Museum
of Science and Industry in Chicago. He replaced Vic Danelov in that
position, which was fortunate for U-505 at that Museum.
Danelov didn't like anything German and he didn't want the U-Boat there.
He paid a scrap dealer to empty two entire storerooms of spare parts off
U-805 that were meant to maintain U-505 for decades.
JACK stopped the rush to 'lose' U-505 and did a great deal
to improve the U-505 exhibit and the Museum itself. We were
sorry to see JACK retire as his replacement isn't on the same level.
332-1987 KEITH KRAFT, United States Navy.
He was crew aboard USS COD and USS ALBACORE.
333-1987 ROBERT THEW, Captain, United States
Navy. Captain BOB spent almost all of his Naval career in ONI
(Office of Naval Intelligence) and upon retiring from the Navy, he went into the
NSA (National Security Agency......it is so secret that it is sometimes referred
to as "No Such Agency") where he became a Senior Intelligence/Crypto Analyst.
It was Captain BOB who first confirmed that
DON ANGEL ALCAZAR de VELASCO
(157-1987) was indeed, the spy he claimed to be and that he did indeed,
meet with Adolf Hitler in August 1952. It is all covered in the book
"Escape
from the Bunker!"
You can read it for yourself if you click on
the link. BOW THEW served ten years on our Sharkhunters Advisory Board and you can see the Board
Members by clicking here
TO THE ADVISORS PAGE
336-1987 JACK INGRAM - Head of the NSA
Museum in Washington DC. It had an unlisted telephone number, no street
address and was not open to the public.
341-1987 FRANK TAGEN, United States Navy,
Armed Guard on merchant ships.
345-1987 JOHN SCHIMOLER, United States
Army, Sergeant.
346-1987 HARRY KANE, United States Army Air
Force. KANE was the pilot of the Lockheed Hudson that sank
U-701 under command of HORST DEGEN
116-1985. KANE and DEGEN became friends after the
war.
347-1987 GEORGE MIDDLETON, United States
Navy. MIDDLETON was the pilot of the blimp that spotted
HORST DEGEN 116-1985 and the other
survivors on U-701. He dropped life rafts, water and food to
them as they waited to be rescued.
348-1987 HERBERT WEISE, Kriegsmarine,
crewman aboard U-559.
350-1987 MARINUS BEY, Captain of SS
ZAANDAM sunk by U-174
351-1987 JIM HARGIS, United States Marines
- combat veteran
363-1987 INGE MOLZAHN, Daughter of Hans
Kaupf, Skipper of U-632
365-1987 FRED WELLNER, Kriegsmarine.
L.I. on U-137, U-409, U-642 and U-3518
368-1987 WOLFGANG BENZINO, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe
373-1987 MICHAEL COMBS, United States Navy,
medical corpsman
378-1987 CHARLIE RICH, United States Army then
worked 36 years at Sikorsky Helicopter without missing one day of work and
without being late once in all those years.
383-1987 NYLE MONDAY, United States Army,
chopper pilot
395-1987 WALTER GIBB, United States
Merchant Marine officer in the war
401-1987 JOHN RYAN, United States Navy.
JOHN was responsible for going in country in Vietnam to blow up any
American assets that had to be left behind, including downed aircraft, to
prevent them from falling into enemy hands. He was Godfather to SEAN
PARTICK COOPER (¼-LIFE-1987). Sadly, JOHN apparently
experienced too much Agent Orange while in Vietnam and did not see his 51st
birthday. JOHN RYAN served ten years on our Sharkhunters Advisory Board and you can see the Board
Members by clicking here
TO THE ADVISORS PAGE
424-1988 MICHAEL AMMANN, United States
Navy, torpedoman
428-1988 REX CHENOWETH, United States Navy,
on commissioning crew USS OSAX (SS 484)
430-1988 ROY HOFFMANN, United States Navy,
first XO on USS REQUIN from commissioning
439-1988 WILLIAM FASOLO, United States
Navy; he rode USS SEA OWL, USS TORSK and USS GRENADIER
445-1988 C. O. SMITH, United States
Navy, Submarines
449-1988 WILLIAM FOLKES, United States
Navy, ONI
456-1988 H. G. PHIPPS, United States
Army, World War Two
460-1988 RODNEY WOOD, Photographer - was
assigned to film the phantom wreck of an experimental U-Boat sunk in the Turks
and Caicos Islands found by another so-called historian named Roger Miklos.
Naturally, when RODNEY and the crew arrived - the boat could not be found
and Miklos quickly evaporated.
466-1988 HUGH DOYLE, United States Navy,
Submarines. He rode USS FLASHER
469-1988 RUSSELL ARCHUT, United States
Navy, combat destroyer veteran.
472-1988 THOMAS MARKER, United States Navy,
Submarines - was at Pearl Harbor on December 7th.
479-1988 JOSEPH MALTBY, United States Navy,
Submarines. COB (Chief of the Boat) USS CROAKER; five war
patrols
482-1988 BRIAN PESSARO, United States Navy,
Officer Cadet
483-1988 HORST HICKMANN, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe
492-1988 EDWARD TOWNS, United States Navy,
Submarines
498-1988 JOHN J. REDLER, United
States Coast Guard, WW II combat
505-1988 FRANZ SELINGER, Researcher - he
found the remote weather station placed in Canada by a U-Boat
512-1988 WILLIAM BRUCKART, United States
Navy; XO on five different submarines
516-1988 RON CHINN, United States
Army, Sergeant
519-1988 CHARLES THOMPSON, United States
Navy, Lieutenant
521-1988 MILES GRAHAM, United States Navy,
Submarines. Enlisted man during WW II and he was part of the prize crew
that brought U-2513 to the USA from Europe. Became an
officer and retired at the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
523-1988 LaVERNE NORDENBERG, United States,
Submarines. 'Red' rode USS SARGO on most of her war patrols.
525-1988 RICHARD BRIGHT, United States
Merchant Marine. He was 1st Mate on the nuclear powered cargo ship
SAVANAH, then a Panama Canal pilot
533-1988 ARTHUR MOORE, United States
Merchant Marine.
536-1988 LOUIS MARI, United States Merchant
Marine.
552-1988 EBERHARD KÄMPER, Naval Attaché,
Federal Republic of Germany.
556-1988 KARL-FRIEDERICH NIEKE, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe; I.W.O. aboard U-515
558-1988 NEAL HAMILTON, United States Navy,
Submarines - "Ham" rode USS BARB in the war.
559-1988 JOHN PAUL PHILLIPS, United States Navy -
served aboard USS MISSOURI (BB 63)
560-1988 HERBERT FRÖHLICH, Kriegsmarine -
Officer aboard GRAF SPEE
563-1988 JEFF CRAWFORD, Assistant Curator,
USS BOWFIN Memorial
564-1988 MIKE STEVENSEN, Publisher, Navy
Life Magazine
565-1988 GEORG WEIß, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe
567-1988 HEINRICH BÖHM, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe
568-1988 RICHARD WRIGHT, United States
Coast Guard WW II combat veteran
589-1988 HARRY DECKER, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe
598-1988 LAWRENCE WEBSTER, Historian, crash
site locator
603-1988 IAN McDERMOTT, Royal Navy aboard
HMS BEAGLE
605-1988 JOSEPH BURGES, United States Navy,
Submarines. JOE was a Brit who came to live in the US and joined
the Navy. He had several war patrols aboard USS BLENNY.
He is our all-time new Member recruiter.
621-1988 JULIANNE HESS, Daughter of our
friend HANS GEORG HESS
627-1988 JOSEF "SEPP" KRAUS, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe. 'SEPP' was the radioman aboard U-505
and was the youngest member of the crew.
628-1988 HERBERT HUMPHRIES, treasure
hunter, owner of a large resort hotel on the island of Grand Cayman, owner of a
large diesel engine company who had employed KARL-ERNST PFAFF (157-1985),
the cargo officer aboard U-234 under
JOHANN-HEINRICH
FEHLER (32-1984) when that boat surrendered in the US with 560 kilos of
uranium aboard.
640-1988 ED OWENS, United States Navy,
Submarines. ED rode USS REQUIN (SS 481) post war.
The boat was a Memorial in Tampa and when the idiot mayor of Tampa so badly mis-handled
this boat that she was about to scrap the boat, ED and
HARRY COOPER (1-LIFE-1983)
rented a compressor truck, blew the ballast tanks and had the boat moved to
another place on the Hillsborough River. The boat was later moved to the
Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh where she is much better treated than she was in
Tampa. ED was a police officer in a small Florida town and sadly,
he succumbed to cancer far too early in life.
641-1988 JOHN J. FLEMING, United
States Coast Guard. JOHN served aboard USCGC DIONE
and had action against U-552 under ERICH
TOPP (118-1985) with no outcome. JOHN became a medical
doctor after the war.
653-1988 JOHN KAMMERER, United States Navy,
Submarines. He rode USS BARB (SSN 596) and he was the very
first Board Member of our Sharkhunters Board of Advisors.
657-1988 IAN SAYER, former Editor of
WW II INVESTIGATOR Magazine; wrote a novel entitled "Nazi Gold".
663-1988 THALITA ECK, An artist, lived her
entire life in Germany - her brother was Heinz Eck, Skipper of U-852
who was captured toward the end of the war. After Germany surrendered and
could take no reprisals, Heinz Eck was told that he would be court martialed
quickly for his allegedly firing on survivors in the water and would be found
guilty and shot - unless he swore in court that Großadmiral Karl Dönitz gave the
order to kill men in the water. It was obvious that the Brits were trying
to coerce Eck into giving false testimony so they could hand Dönitz at the
Nürnberg trials. Eck refused to trade his life for that of Dönitz by
giving false testimony since such an order was never given - so the kangaroo
court found him guilty, as they told him they would - and on a sunny day in
December 1945, the Brits stood him against a wall and shot him dead - as they
said they would. Sharkhunters President
HARRY COOPER (1-LIFE-1983)
spent an entire day with THALITA in her apartment and she talked
about life in Germany during the war - and when she talked about her brother,
she broke down and cried. When COOPER left her apartment, she gave
him a huge stack of papers - the court records from her brother's court martial.
664-1988 WILLIAM PEDDICORD, Commander,
United States Navy, Submarines.
668-1988 KURT MOLLER, United States Navy,
Submarines. He rode USS JACK (SS 259) and wrote the book "Death
from Below".
677-1988 HOWARD BUECHNER, United States
Army, Medical Corps. As a young medical officer with the 45th Infantry
Division that were the first to arrive Dachau. In his book "Dachau -
the Avenging Angel" he writes openly how the German camp guards were
lined up against the wall and machine gunned down by the U.S. Army. Those
not killed outright by the machine guns were shot in the head by an officer with
his pistol. He retired at the rank of Colonel and wrote several books
including "Adolf Hitler and the Holy Lance"; "Hitler's Ashes" and
a couple more. His books were a mixture of fact and fantasy but made
interesting reading.
681-1988 H. J. von KNEBEL-DOBERITZ, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe. von KNEBEL was an administrative officer working in
the headquarters of Karl Dönitz when OTTO KRETSCHMER
(122-1985) requested a replacement for his highly trained I.W.O.
KLAUS BARGSTEN (328-1987).
None were available, so von KNEBEL, with no combat experience and no sea
experience was sent to U-99. He was the officer in charge
when KRETSCHMER went to bed after being awake and in combat for 48 hours
and it was von KNEBEL who dived U-99 against orders,
resulting in the loss of U-99. von KNEBEL was a good
man, and he and KRETSCHMER remained friends for decades after the war.
682-1988 LUTZ BIEBER, Bundsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe. As a submarine commander, LUTZ was apparently well
above average evidenced with his bringing his crippled 205 Alpha boat safely
into port after an on board fire and carrying many tons of sea water that leaked
into the boat during this fire emergency. To command a submarine in a navy
with only two dozen boats, one had to be exceptionally qualified. As an
officer and indeed, as a man, he fell far short. In charge of the chantey
choir of the naval school, they were in an east German city just after the end
of the DDR and the USSR when some of his drunken cadets went down the historic
old street, smashing the centuries old globes on the street lights. When
the mayor complained, LUTZ became angry, arguing loudly with the mayor
and then called the mayor an "Eastie", a very derogatory term.
LUTZ was disciplined by his superiors for this. In another
instance, his superior officer, much younger than LUTZ, made fun of him
because he was single and not moving up in the ranks because, his superior told
him, only married officers were getting promoted - so LUTZ got married.
This apparently was not a happy marriage because when he and his wife were in
the USA for an International Submariners Convention, they had a fight. It
was reported to us by some American submarine veterans, that LUTZ took
away her passport, airplane ticket and money then told told her to 'go out on
the street' and earn the money to get back to Europe! The American
veterans thought this was an extremely terrible thing to do and for the most
part, had nothing more to do with him. He was later posted in England and
allegedly physically hit his wife on more than one occasion. One day he
returned to his apartment after work to find - nothing! His wife had every
stick of furniture shipped back to Germany, informed him that she was going to
divorce him and get deeply into his wallet. His exit from the Bundsmarine
was less than memorable and when all this came to our attention, he was put out
of Sharkhunters immediately and permanently.
686-1988 HAWLEY OEHFINGER, United States
Navy, Destroyers. He was radioman aboard USS DALLAS (DD 199)
as they chased U-333 under PETER-ERICH
CREMER (114-1985) across the Atlantic.
702-1988 JOHN "Jake" FYFE, United States
Navy, Submarines. As Skipper of USS BATFISH (SS 310), he
sank more enemy submarines than any other submarine Skipper in history; three Ro
boats and one I boat. He retired as Rear Admiral.
703-1988 GUS BRITTON, United Kingdom,
Submarines. After a stint on HMS NELSON, he was entirely
submarines. After retirement from the Royal Navy, GUS was curator
at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum.
704-1988 ROGER HORNE, United States Navy,
Submarines. Toward the end of his career in the US Navy, Vice Admiral
HORNE was in charge of the Navy's TRIDENT Missile Program.
717-1988 PAUL CADE, United States Navy
718-1988 PAUL SKAHAN, United States Navy,
Submarines. PAUL served 21 years.
721-LIFE-1988 WILLIAM "Scotty"
McCANN, United States Army, chopper pilot.
741-1988 REINER BEITZ, Bundsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe
750-1988 DEAN FROHLICH, United States
Navy, ASW. DEAN was an ASW operator on a P-3 Orion
755-1988 NIEL CHRISTENSEN, United States
Navy
759-1988 HANS SPYKER, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe
766-1988 MERLE REVELS, United States Navy.
MERLE was aboard USS PILLSBURY when they captured
U-505 on 4 June 1944.
767-1988 PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER, United States
Navy
773-1988 ROBERT TREXLER, United States Navy
774-1988 Captain ARTHUR RAWSON,
United States Merchant Marine
775-1988 RAYMOND ISSLER; When the Norwegian
submarine KAURA (the former U-995) was being
decommissioned and put up for sale, RAY tried to buy the boat to have her
brought to south Florida and opened as a restaurant.
786-1988 Captain PETER WHEELER,
United States Navy
787-1988 ARTHUR AYDELOTTE, United
States Navy, Destroyers, World War Two combat veteran.
789-1988 Colonel WILHELM HÖHN, United
States Army Intelligence
790-1988 JOSEF KASSEL, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe. While most U-Bootfahrer will tell you which boat they rode, "JUPP"
would loudly and proudly state "I was OTTO KRETSCHMER's
radioman!"
798-1988 the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. A copy of
every printed issue of our KTB Magazine is stored here.
807-1988 BRIAN ORLANDO, Sharkhunters researcher.
813-1988 VIRGINIA BADER, art gallery owner,
niece of famed RAF pilot Douglas Bader
814-1988 R. PAGE REESE, United States
Navy, Submarine Service - Torpedoman 3rd Class
822-1988 KARL-HEINZ SCHULTZE, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe
825-1988 ERIC TAKAKJIAN, Accomplished diver
828-1988 GEORGE ROCEK, United States Navy,
Submarine Service. GEORGE rode USS ANGLER in combat
841-1988 KARL SIPPEL, Luftwaffe as 'Luftwaffenhelfer'....a
young man, too young to join the Wehrmacht, he carried ammunition from the
bunkers to the anti-aircraft guns. After the war, KARL came to the
USA and became a citizen. By the 1980's he owned a chain of radio stations
along the east coast of Florida.
854-1988 EBERHARD von KETELHODT, Kriegsmarine,
U-Bootwaffe. EBERHARD was training Skipper aboard U-712
867-1988 JOHN TRENKA, Wehrmacht, Ordnance
specialist
877-1988 Lieutenant Colonel ROBERT W.
GEORGE, United States Army - "Ranger Bob"
880-1988 JAMES CARRIGAN, United States
Navy. JIM rode USS SPIKEFISH, USS AMBERJACK, USS CHIVO
and USS TRIGGER
891-1988 ROBERT McMILLAN, British Military - he
saw combat in the Middle East
893-1988 ROBERT JUNG, United States Merchant
Marine ship's Captain.
894-1988 CARL COFF, Royal Canadian Mounted
Police Sergeant
904-1989 Captain ROBERT O'NEILL,
United States Navy, Submarine Service
909-1989 DAVID MAXWELL, United States Navy,
DAVE served aboard the aircraft carrier USS RANDOLPH (CV 15)
when they picked up astronaut Gus Grissolm (Project Mercury) when his space
capsule splashed down.
911-1989 CHARLES VARDY, United States Navy,
Submarine Service - on the repair crew of U-977
913-1989 MILTON CROW, United States Army
914-1989 MARTIN WOODWARD, Professional
research diver
917-1989 JOSEPH LUNN, United States Navy,
Submarine Service
928-1989 MORRIS GRINSTEAD, United States Navy
Air; he was the navigator on the plane that sank U-67. He
and WALTER JANEK (227-1986), one of only three survivors of U-67,
became good friends when JANEK emigrated to the USA and the two men,
former enemies, lived near each other in Texas.
929-1989 Rear Admiral WALTER SMALL, United States
Navy, Submarine Service. Admiral SMALL had a long and illustrious
career in the boats and his most memorable command was USS BATFISH (SS
310).
930-1989 JAMES LAMBERT, United States Navy,
Submarine Service
946-1989 PATTI YOUNG, United States Navy.
PATTI was the first ever female XO aboard USS VULCAN
947-1989 H. KEITH THOMPSON, United
States Navy. THOMPSON was a colorful figure of history. He
campaigned against the United States getting involved in World War Two (as did
many patriotic Americans including Charles Lindburg and Gary Cooper) and
allegedly was appointed a Special Agent of the SD (Sicherheitsdienst) Overseas
Intelligence Unit on 27 July 1941. After the war, he graduated Yale
University, went with the US Navy and was an adjutant to Rear Admiral Richard
Byrd during Operation HIGHJUMP, the American expedition to
Antarctica. after the war, he befriended Otto Skorzeny and helped him
organize ODESSA.
950-1989 CHEWNING WATKINS, United States
Navy, Coastal Artillery Officer
955-1989 WERNER VERMERHEREN, Commander of
the Marine Sonderdienst Auslands
960-1989 WILLIAM TAYLOR, United States
Navy, served aboard destroyer USS EDISON
MORE WILL BE ADDED DAILY......please check back.
It will take some time as we have more than 7,600 Members in 76 countries.
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