Our 1999 Patrol in Germany began as do all our patrols over there; with a river cruise on our own chartered boat along the Elbe River. In this way, all Members are able to meet and chat with each other informally. We were saddened to learn that the bunker Elbe 11, which we called the 'Lost Bunker' was filled in with sand and lost to history forever. Members will remember that three of our SHARKHUNTERS Members hunted this bunker down and despite warnings from the then owners of the property, penetrated the bunker and found the three Type = boats entombed therein. They are U-2505, U-3004 and U-3506 which was the boat of our dear friend GERD THATER (194-1986). These three explorers were HARRY COOPER (1-LIFE-1983); JAK MALLMANN SHOWELL (73-1984) & EDDIE PHILLIPS (220-A/LIFE-1986). EDDIE was the first to actually go on board the deck of one boat with HARRY quick to follow. It is all on Tape H-5.

BAD NEWS TURNS TO GOOD NEWS

AL REICHERT (3744-1994) and I walked almost all the way to the Lost Bunker on Saturday before our tour began and were told by the local police that the bunker had been totally filled in along with the little cove in which the bunker was situated. Bad news!

During our boat trip, the Skipper also said that the bunker and the cove were filled in with sand, two meters of pavement put on top and the whole thing was a container terminal. We saw this as our boat cruised past the area. More bad news!

But then some of the sharp-eyed troops aboard our boat said they didn't think it looked like the bunker itself was filled in - so after the Welcome Dinner Sun. evening, our SHARKHUNTERS Bunker Brigade commandeered a rental car from new Member LAWRENCE HENNINGER and headed for the place with the sign that states 'EINGANG VERBOTEN' which we all know means 'SHARKHUNTERS are welcome here'.

The 'LOST BUNKER'as seen from our boat two years ago. It is impossible to get here by water any longer.

This group, including PHIL WAITE (3011-LIFE-1993), TOM SCHUNDER (5794-1999), KEN HENNINGER (5884-1999) and a few others (I apologize - I didn't get all the names) went to the Lost Bunker. Yep, they swiped KEN's father's rental car for the expedition. What they found was heartwarming - the bunker itself had not been filled in! The U-Boats are still there but unfortunately, the Bunker Brigade got there at high tide and so nothing was to be seen. The tide range here is about twelve feet, so one must wait for low tide - but the boats are not covered - yet, We hope the German Government forgets they are in here.

WELCOME BANQUET

Our WELCOME BANQUET was extremely nice, and well attended by U-bootfahrer despite some of them being absent for the reunions of their boat's crew. The Skippers who attended were:

FKPT GERD THATER (194-LIFE-1986), Skipper of U-466 and the Type VII boat U-3506;
Captain OTTO WESTPHALEN (329-1987), C. 0. of U-968 and winner of the KNIGHTS CROSS,
Captain (Prof.) MATTHIAS BRVNIG (1943-LIFE-1991), Skipper of several boats
Captain GUNTHER HEINRICH (1945-1991), Skipper of U-960 - the LAST U-Boat to make it through Gibraltar.

There were many other officers and crew - and one from the Luftwaffe as well at this Welcome Dinner. The food was great, the fellowship superb - and everyone got their autographs.

Interesting Pairings

This was an interesting year for our Patrol because we had four sets of fathers and sons, and one set of mother and son. We list them here with the parent first and the son second:

JANET O'BRIEN and SCOTT KUMEROW (5820-1999)
JOE DANNER (5844-1999) and THAD DANNER (2067-LIFE-1"1)
JIM KRAMER (5319-1997) and BRYAN KRAMER (5829-1999)
GERRY SCHUNDER (5836-1999) and TOM SCHUNDER (5794-1999)
LAWRENCE HENINGER and KEN HENINGER (5884-1999)

Sorry JANET and LAWRENCE - I can't find your Membership Number just yet. Things are still scrambled from my return to the office. There were also some married couples with us; two of our guys had birthdays along with one of our Luftwaffe veterans on the same day. It was a pretty nice cross-section of SHARKHUNTERS and everyone got along just great! Hats off to LAWRENCE for his 'CAN DO' spirit. He can't walk very far so he brought along his little electric scooter. He went everyplace with us and never slowed down a bit. Members helped take his scooter off and on the bus. SHARKHUNTERS is a great family!

1999 Patrol in Germany U-Boat Tour

Introduction
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday