SHARKHUNTERS in 56 COUNTRIES!

When FARIZ FAROOK TYEBJEE (4663-1996) joined, KUALA LAMPUR became the 56th country in which there are Members of our SHARKHUNTERS Family. Welcome aboard to FARIZ and to KUALA LAMPUR >KTB 24

KTB # 24 was only 6 pages long and done on an old typewriter. The entire issue would take only one or two pages of today’s KTB Magazine. The costs of producing our KTB Magazine and operating SHARKHUNTERS have increased by about 400% over these past ten years, yet Membership dues have increased by only 50% while the content of our KTB Magazine has increased by about 3,000%. I’d say that’s pretty good progress.

It Is The Kids

For your information, our KTB Magazine comes from the print shop as a great many boxes of unassembled sheets of paper. How then does this mass of paper become the KTB Magazine you read?

We take the boxes of paper to the local high school where the handicapped kids take it from there. These are kids with either a physical or a mental handicap, and they do a great job with your KTB Magazine. They gather the pages, collate them in order, fold them, staple them then stuff them into the envelopes and seal them.

The kids really enjoy doing our KTB as it is meaningful work, not just a make-work project like stringing beads or cutting paper. We pay them for their work, so they learn that doing work has a reward they can see. The teachers like this as well, because they can show their students that doing work has a practical side.

So when you write your check for your dues renewal, you can enjoy knowing that part of your check goes to these kids who do such great work putting your KTB Magazine together.

CRASH!

That is a terrible word, especially for anyone using a computer. It happened to us a month or so ago - we lost our entire MAILING LIST program. I guess these computers are not as perfect as we are led to believe, as we spent nearly an entire week getting the list re-created from the other sources we use as back-up.

So, if you notice anything new and unusual about the label on your issue of the KTB, please let us know any changes necessary. Thanks for your patience while we get our ducks back in a row.

NEW BERLIN

We asked in KTB #117 last month if any Members live near New Berlin, New York. This is important - please contact this HQ right away if you live in or near this town. Thanks.

Membership Contest

Our 1996 Membership Contest is off to an interesting start. While there are very few Members in the contest, those who are have made great strides already. Here are the participants:

GUDMUNDUR HELGASSON (3566-1994)..............................6
He has already won two years of FREE Membership with his results in the 1995 Membership Contest, and he now will receive at least one more year of FREE Membership from this contest.

JACK GOODIER (127-1990)....................................................3

JOE BURGES (605-A/LIFE-1988)............................................1
FRANK WEINGART (842-1988)

EVERYONE CAN WIN! GUDMUNDUR has already won another year of Membership - FREE! JACK needs only two more new Members and he will win another year of Membership; FREE! JOE and FRANK are off the starting line in good order and have a great chance to move ahead in the coming months.

For every FIVE new Members you recruit, you will receive one more year of Membership - FREE! There is no limit to the number of new Members you may recruit - and no limit to the number of years of FREE Membership you may win.

Don’t forget the GRAND PRIZE!

The KEYS in 1997

The 1st Annual Convention of SHARKHUNTERS was in February of 1987 in the Florida Keys. About 50 Members were with us, including three U-Boat Commanders (one KNIGHTS CROSS winner) & eight U-Boat crewmen. We had a super time; and thanks to the suggestion of OBLT. HANS-GEORG HESS (125-LIFE-1985) [at right, in 1944] during our “Farewell Breakfast” we began to cross the ocean to Germany and Europe for many more history trips - former enemies building bridges of friendship across the Atlantic is the way HESS described it.

Zu Meinen Deutschen Freunden

We just received a FAX from HANS-GEORG HESS which says:

“Das KTB unseres Präsidenten, meines Freundes, Harry Cooper hat ein hohes Niveau - von Anfang an, inzwischen gibt es weit über 100 Ausgaben -. Die qualität zeigt sich in historischer Hinsicht und in Richtung Fairness und Anstandt! Wer gedenkt schon in Deutschland der haute verstorbenen früheren U-Bootfahrer oder anderer tapferer Soldaten? Harry tut es: zum Beispiel gerade beim Tod von Jürgen Wattenberg und zuvor von Ali Cremer. Harry’s Gedenken in The Präsident’s Corner sind immer grussarting und zu beherzigen - neulich zum 50. Jahrstag des Kriegsendes, heute über die stupide Zerstörung/Verleumdung der Geschich te einzig und allein durch die Deutschen (sagen wir besser: durch die deutschen Politiker und Historiker).

Harry, wir rufen Dir zu, was der Preussenkönig Friedrich der Grosse auf lateinisch gesagt hat: Semper talis - weiter so (und vielen Dank).

OBLT. HANS-GEORG HESS was Skipper of U-995, and in his FAX, he confirmed that he will indeed, be with us in the Florida Keys for this historic time.

Soon we will be at the 10th Anniversary of this historic First Convention - so we are planning a great gathering. We’ll return to the Florida Keys in 1997. We anticipate that many more will attend, there will be more to do, more to see - and it will be another moment in history for our Members of SHARKHUNTERS and now EAGLEHUNTERS as well.

Besides, it is a great reason to escape the ice & snow of most of the USA, of Canada, of Germany, of Austria, of Russia and all the other places on the earth that are covered in snow in February.

Keep watching your KTB Magazine (SHARKHUNTERS) and your FB Magazine (EAGLEHUNTERS) for the dates. This will be the GREATEST ever gathering of our groups - don’t miss it!

Be An Angel

SHARKHUNTERS ANGELS are a very special group of Members. They had something they wanted to go to our SHARKHUNTERS Research Center to help preserve the history of the U-BootWaffe, of the US Navy Silent Service, or any of the other submarine services - the War at Sea itself.....but not until they began their ETERNAL PATROL. The names of these very special Sharkhunters Angels will appear in each issue of our KTB Magazine.

If you have something you wish to give to our Sharkhunters Research Center after your death, please place a statement to that effect in your will. It will come here in your name for all researchers of this period of history to use in honest study.

Members may leave anything they think will help, whether it would be an artifact of the War at Sea; perhaps some books to help our library grow; or anything at all that will help - even cash is welcome.

On Eternal Patrol

BOB THEW (333-+-1987) 28 December, 1989
MALCOLM SCHULTS (859-+-1988) 17 October, 1990
DIANE KAMMERER (1926-+-1991) 6 January, 1992
JAMES MORGAN (925-+-1989) 24 October, 1992
SKIP GROSSKOPF (3075-+-1993)
WILHELM GRAP (215-+-1986) 2 September, 1995
REV. DR. OREN POTITO (1687-+-1990) 2 May, 1995

Sustaining Members

SUSTAINING MEMBERS are those who, through their monthly or annual pledges, help with the routine bills, such as the SHARKHUNTERS telephone bill, which usually runs in the area of $300 each month. They help SHARKHUNTERS grow and continue to tell the honest story of the U-BootWaffe and all the submarine navies of World War II. We hope YOU help.

We need YOU to join this special group. Your name in each issue will remain in the archives of many countries, because our KTB Magazine is kept in PERMANENT archival files in them; including the NATIONAL ARCHIVES of the UNITED STATES, the GERMAN U-BOOT MEMORIAL, BRAZILIAN NAVY ARCHIVES, the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, the ITALIAN SUBMARINE ARCHIVES, the RUSSIAN NAVY ARCHIVES and many more.

YOUR MONTHLY KTB MAGAZINE WILL COME TO YOU BY FIRST CLASS MAIL YOU WILL RECEIVE YOUR MAGAZINE A WEEK OR SO SOONER!

It is easy to join this special group - just pledge any amount you will send each month or each year, and you are immediately added to this list of outstanding Members who help us grow. Will YOU help? Thanks!

Just for comparison, when this SUSTAINING FUND was created by C. D. HESLER (832-A/LIFE-1988) in 1988, there were only 800 Members in SHARKHUNTERS.....and we thought that was a lot.

Today, just a few years later, there are MORE THAN 4,800 Members! So you can see how the expenses have expanded more than EIGHT FOLD. I hope we can count on YOU for this critical assistance. In advance, many thanks.

CHUCK HESLER (832-A/LIFE-1988)
A.J. TARANTINO (1496-1990)
ANTHONY GALAZ (959-1989)
BILL LUND (610-1988)
R. M. CLARE (1571-1990)
OLAF ‘BUD’ VEATH (1711-1990)
ART AYDELOTTE (787-1988)
NORMAN E. HARMS (2215-A-1992)
COREY COLT (1047-1989)
ART JACOBSON (2154-1992)
MILTON SANDERS (3792-1994)
PHIL KAPLAN (3470-1994)
BILL CUSTER (1764-A/LIFE-1991)
MARK NIFFENEGGER (4352-1995)