55 Years; 80 Years of Age John Taylor

Our good friend and Charter Member JOHN TAYLOR (19-LIFE-1983) has just celebrated his 80" birthday - AND his 55th anniversary working for the National Archives. Wow! That is dedication. JOHN is the guy who arranged to have all our KTB Magazines from the very first, kept in permanent archival file in the National Archives.

God bless you JOHN, and keep up the great work!

Check Our Website!

Our SHARKHUNTERS website has undergone a major face-lift and is looking great! There are more items listed there with photos so you have a virtual catalog at your mousepad -- and there will soon be many mousepad design, offered by SHARKHUNTERS in the very near future.

www. sharkhunters. com

Check it out weekly, as it will be changing almost daily.

The "Old Bos 'n" is Gone

We got an e-mail from CARL JEPPESEN (4547-1995) that the "Old Bos'n" died quietly in his sleep in late May this year. He refers to his dad, a man who more or less owed his life to ERICH TOPP (118-LIFE-1987). On that cold Halloween night in 1941, U-552 torpedoed the old four-stack destroyer USS REUBEN JAMES, thinking it was one of the 50 the US gave to England. The destroyer USS NIBLACK rushed over to pick up survivors of the old "RUBE" and while they were stopped dead in the water, TOPP and U-552 had a perfect shot at them. TOPP did not fire. He told us some years ago that he just could not bring himself to fire on a ship that was stopped to help their fellow sailors, and so USS NIBLACK was spared.

The "Old Bos'n" was just a young sailor at the time, and he was serving aboard USS NIBLACK. If TOPP had fired, NIBLACK also would have been lost and in all probability, the "Old Bos'n" would have been lost, and CARL never would have been born.

CARL wrote is his e-mail: "I know that was a proud chapter that was fulfilled years after the war for both of them. Anyway, please tell ERICH. I know he was in my father's heart."

CARL, thanks for the beautiful tribute to your father and also to the humanity of ERICH TOPP. These memories are so important, and that is what we ask our Members to send us. We are always shown movies, films, stories etc. of the cruelty of war so it is refreshing to hear some of the stories of humanity, decency and honor as well.

Membership Contest

For this year's Membership Contest, the new rules are still in effect, making it easier for everyone to become a winner. For every five Members you bring on board, you win one more year of Membership - FREE! But now, for each new Member, you will receive a $5 discount off your dues for 2002. If you bring 4 new Members on board, you receive $20 off your 2002 dues. If you bring 6 new Members on board, you win one more year of Membership FREE plus a $5 discount off the following year's dues. YOU CAN'T LOSE!

GRAND PRIZE

Whoever brings the most new Members aboard (minimum of 15) wins the GRAND PRIZE. The prize is - your choice of: 1. Life Membership (Seaman level) or 2. a $600 shopping spree from our catalog or 3. $250 CASH! A e are moving well with the 2001 Membership Contest. We see that several `veterans' of the recruiting contests are already in the fray but so are many new Members. While these Members have one each new Member to their credit, the year proceeding nicely.

2:

TODD RISTAU (5497-1998)

1

JOE BURGES (605-A/LIFE-1988)
KEN FESLER (1457-A-1990)
DAVID BUEHN (1742-LIFE-1991)
JIMMY KENNEDY (1906-LIFE-1991)
EMILIE CALDWELL STEWART (2480-1992)
LAWRENCE NOTHDURFT (5510-A/LIFE-1998)
VALOR TOURS (5576-1998)
MICHAEL NICHOLS (5578-1999)
DONALD FEINDT (6229-2001)
BEN DUGGER (6241-2001)
STEVE HARMON (6270-2001)

We are halfway through the year 2001 and I have a feeling that we .kill soon see some action. There is a nice mix of veterans recruiting new Members as well as newcomers also doing their part to keep our numbers growing. Four more Members have joined this is race since last month and I have a feeling that we will soon see a marked increase in the numbers of new Members brought aboard by current Members.

A word to the wise - that crafty old recruiting Ace of Aces, JOE BURGES, usually puts on quite a push in the later months of each year. So watch out for this guy. He is tough to beat!

Are You Moving?

If you move, you must tell us your new address. Many people fill out that little card at the Post Office and they think that all their mail will be forwarded on to them. This is not the case.

Only the First Class mail will be send on to you while the 3rd class (that means magazines) will be returned to the publisher unless you have checked that little box on the Post Office form that states you will pay extra for your magazines to be forwarded to you.

We don't want you to miss your KTB Magazine, and you don't want to pay the extra postage to the Post Office. So just let us know when you are moving, and we will get your KTB Magazine to you at your new home. It's easy - you can drop us a note; send a FAX; e-mail us your new address or call on the phone. All the numbers & addresses you need are on page 2 of this & every KTB.

ATTENTION VETERANS

To all veterans of the War at Sea (any Navy), if you have any artifacts from this time that are getting old and dusty and if your children won't want them, would you donate them the our SHARKHUNTERS Research Center for others to view and study? This was a critical time in the 20th Century and we wish to save as much for the future generations as possible. These artifacts will be well cared for.