Remember, we are still in Phase I of this reporting wherein we report the observations of those who visit this fine museum and the U-505 exhibit and find rude and impolite people there and/or tour guides who tell things as if they are fact when they are actually false and totally ridiculous. Later we will report on other topics:

Phase II - apparent lack of security;
Phase III - How much money is really needed for U-505
Phase IV - Possible destruction of U-505;
Phase V - what submarine is really there in Chicago?

All Officers were Nazis?

Member (4???-A/LIFE-1996) recently visited the Museum and the U-505 exhibit in particular. He enjoyed his tour so much that he wrote a letter to the Director of the Museum telling him what a great tour he got. Then he also mentioned that 'a few errors crept into the presentation' and he continued with the most glaring:

"For example, it is not true that all U-boat officers were members of the Nazi Party."

Yep, that is a pretty 'glaring' error and it is indicative of what we have been reporting all along - that under this new group running the Museum, accuracy appears to mean nothing - just bring in the money. It is sad, but that is not the way Jack Kahn ran the Museum and as a kid growing up in Chicago in the 1950's. I know what a really great job Major Lenox Lohr did running the Museum. It appears that all this tradition has gone the way of the dodo bird.

Stranger Situation

This is an even stranger situation than we have come to expect from the `Brass' at the Museum. We received a phone call and a letter from Member 2???-1992 a year or so ago.

He had paid his entrance fee and was enjoying a leisurely time inside U-505. This Member is a retired US Navy submarine sailor and so, knows and appreciates everything about a submarine. He is also an avid lover of submarine history, and so being aboard this U-boat put him in Paradise.

His enjoyment was somewhat cut short when he was approached by Keith Gill, who had a young lady with him. According to our Member, Keith told him to get off the boat right then, because Keith wanted to give a personal tour to this young lady.

While this Member may be short, he is certainly not docile and when faced with the unfairness of this order, he told Keith that he had paid his entrance and he was not going to get off the boat for any reason I think he also told Keith what he should do with the submarine and his special tour, but we better not quote this as it is rather crude -- and is probably also physically impossible.

Our Member has the entire conversation on tape!

Phase I

We are going to try to finish Phase I as quickly as possible. That is the part where we publish letters and comments from Members about the behavior or some people at the Museum and also the tar out and `creative' comments made by some guides. Once this is finished, we will cover some of the shocking lack of security there. Member 6???-2001 sent this e-mail.

"I visited U-505 last year and as was already said from others, the staff that was showing the boat was not very friendly. We were not allowed to go outside to view the exterior. We could only go inside the boat. There is no excuse for their rudeness. And they say us New Yorkers are bad!!!"

Member 5???-C-1998 visited the Museum and sent this e-mail:

"The guides at the Museum don't know much about the boat. In fact, one guy said that the reason they had 60 men on duty was so the other 30 not on duty could run to the front of the boat for diving. They did not need them for anything else. Wow! Just so much dead weight consuming food and drink on a three-month patrol."

EDITOR's NOTE - We have said this before and I think it is necessary that we say it again. The Museum of Science & Industry is one of the world's greatest museums without question. U-505 is a splendid part of this great museum and I count myself fortunate that I grew up in Chicago and could visit this great museum whenever I wanted. In fact, there were times when I would skip a full day of school on the excuse of being sick, just so I could spend the day at the Museum. It is a fantastic place and it had always run well - under the great Major Lenox Lohr who did a superb job, through Vic Dannelav who told me that he really didn't even want U-505 there and he paid a scrap dealer to haul away two storage rooms full of spare parts gotten from U-805, through Jack Kahn who did a superb job of running the museum. Under some of the new people however, an attitude of 'me' and 'mine' seems to have crept into the operations with the results you read here. About a year ago, we went to the Museum and offered to help correct all the inaccuracies and help with the history. We were rebuffed, and so the errors continue. It is sad that so many visitors keep getting incorrect and really fanciful ideas of the U-boats and their crews.