Members will remember that about a year ago, we reported that a group of WW II US NAVY destroyer guys thought they sank a German U-Boat off the entrance to San Francisco Harbor in April, 1945. I personally wrote to Bill Anderson, the person apparently in charge of a group of ten of these TIN CAN vets, and I told him that there was no way there was any German U-Boat anywhere on the west coast of the United States. He did not want to hear that, of course, and added all sorts of reasons that made sense to him, but not to anyone with any knowledge of World War II and U-Boat actions. And let's remember that Anderson and his group had mailed out numerous proposals to potential investors, asking for a mere $20,000 for a share of all the NAZI gold the U-Boats always had aboard. I told him that he was either totally unrealistic or that his group was trying to pull a fraud - because there was NO German U-Boat there!

He said that he was neither, and said that a U-Boat Captain by the name of Otto Giese had told him that German U-Boats often made the trip to Japan with valuables. I again had to burst his bubble and tell him that OBLT OTTO GIESE (45-1984) was never a U-Boat Commander but in fact was II W. O. on U-405 under Hoppmann, then on U-181 under Freiwald, but he was never a Skipper and since I knew OTTO personally, I knew that he would never say that he was a Skipper, or that U-Boats were off San Francisco, or that they carried gold around the oceans of the world.

That was about a year ago, and we had heard nothing of Anderson and his crew until middle August this year, when he was interviewed on one of the Turner Networks, telling this ridiculous story again. His wife then took the mike and twittered; Wouldn't it be wonderful if Billy really did find a U-Boat full of gold? She is probably now the biggest celebrity at her bridge club.

I quickly wrote a letter with all the pertinent details to former Member TED TURNER (145-1985) and suggested that he not set his network up to look foolish, and the story was quickly dropped. But I imagine in another year or so, Anderson and his TIN CAN buddies will pop up again, still looking for this phantom U-Boat that does not exist. Let's see what television network bites on this non-story next time.