As we said in KTB #150 last month, this Museum is one of the most awesome and impressive in the world. However, over the past few years, some problems have arisen in these areas:

1. serious lack of service and actual rude behavior by some;
2. serious lack of historical accuracy;
3. horrible lack of security;
4. oddities in the fund raising;
5. what boat really is in Chicago?

Here we see some of the situations that fall under item #1 above.

Our first indication that there would be a problem came a few years ago when our SHARKHUNTERS enjoyed another great gathering in Chicago. As always, we toured U-505 and enjoyed it greatly. We finished our tour around lunchtime, so I told our Members that they were now on their own to visit this fantastic museum and gave them a time to meet for the bus trip back to our hotel. As I was walking towards the lunchroom, I heard someone behind me yelling for me to stop. The voice was indeed, quite angry.

“I’m going to make SHARKHUNTERS totally unwelcome here. You will never come here again!” the voice hollered.

I turned to see a tall, skinny guy with a scraggly Adolf Hitler moustache who was doing all the yelling. He identified himself as Keith Gill, and still yelling, said that a few of our Members had, on their own, climbed onto the decks of ‘his boat’ as he called U-505. He continued to yell that he was going to do what he could to make SHARKHUNTERS unwelcome at the Museum. One of the Museum executives Steve Bishop, was there and he got Gill calmed down but as he departed, Gill was still yelling his threats.

I later learned who had gone onto the deck and they told me that Gill had screamed at them that they were on ‘his boat’ and that they were ‘defiling the memories of the veterans’ by coming onto ‘his boat’. The man to whom he was directing his tirade was a US Navy Commander, an aviator with more than 300 combat missions to his credit. Nevertheless, these few Members should not have been on the deck of U-505 and they admitted it but Gill continued to shout that he was going to do everything he could to hurt us. At this point, you will probably think that this is a rather narrow scope of the problem. As we bring these irregularities to you over the next many months, you will see that this not just about us but indeed, serious problems at the Museum of Science and Industry.

In KTB #152 next month, we will have other instances of the rude behavior of this man, who feels that U-505 is ‘his boat’ from other Members who have had experiences with him. If you have had any experience with lack of service, rude behavior, inaccuracy of what the tour guide was saying - anything at all, please let us know and we will publish it in this section over the next few months. We will withhold your name if you wish. Thanks in advance.