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The

Adventurers’ Club NewsVolume 54 February 2010 Number 2

Wake Island

The Adventurers' Club News The Official Publication of the Adventurers' Club of Los Angeles

February, 2010 Volume 54 Number 2 Publisher Allan Smith #1069 Editor Bob Zeman #878

Santa Barbara, CA, CA 93111

Club Phone (323) 223-3948 (24 Hrs) www.adventurersclub.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DIRECTORY INSIDE FRONT COVER PRESIDENT'S PAGE 1 ARTICLES

ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF NORMAN DYHRENFURTH 2 WAKE ISLAND, THE ALAMO OF THE PACIFIC 4 THE POWER OF A BADGE 6 TRIBUTE TO TED WILLIAMS 8

BOB GAN NON—EASTBOUND 9 WE HEARD FROM KEITH BATES 10 EDITOR'S PAGE 11 THURSDAY NIGHTS AT THE CLUB 12 WORLD WAR II AIR RAID ON LOS ANGELES 19 FORTHCOMING PROGRAMS AND SILVER LININGS 21

7" PRESIDENT

2ND VICE PRES

SECRETARY

ADDRESS

Allan Smith

Mike Gwaltney A Ian Fplrl ctpin 2433 N Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90086

MAILING ADDRESS 1ST VICE PRES TREASURER DINNER RESERVATIONS PO Box 31226 Vince Weatherby Rick Flores (323)-223-3948 (VoiceMail) Los Angeles, CA 90031

Deadline: Tuesday Noon PHONE & WEBSITE (323) 223-3948 wunv.adventurersclub.oq

ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS February 20101

The

ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWSVolume 54 February 2010 Number 2THE PRESIDENT’S PAGE – Past, Present & FutureAllan R. Smith #1069 - President

Recently, the LosAngeles Times

ran a story on thefront page about ourmember RalphWhite and thespreading of hisashes around theworld. The storyturned out great. I

would like to thank Alan Feldstein’s wifeDiane Haithman who worked for the Timesfor making this happen.

I am proud to announce that Steve Law-son and Dave Finnern will co-chair thisyear’s Night of High Adventure. There aremany changes coming and from what I hear,the price will be lower than in previous year.The committee will be looking for itemsfor the “Silent auction” so please be look-ing around the home or office and help makethis auction the best ever.

Our member James Cameron’s #1129 film“Avatar” is breaking records at the box of-fice. I had the opportunity to visit with himat the Writer’ Guild (WGA) and see a screen-ing. “Avatar” is a film not to be missed.

I would like to welcome our newest mem-ber Pasquali Scaturro who lives in Colo-rado. He did the first descent of the BlueNile, guided Eric Weihenmayer ( a blindclimber) to the top of Mt. Everest, and led

a History Channel expedition titled “Ex-pedition Africa.” When he is able to attenda meeting, please welcome him.

Second vice president and House Commit-tee chair Mike Gwaltney #1128 has been tack-ling the Club quarters. He is clearing and re-organizing the library and I must say it looksgreat. You will also notice that the Club looksa bit brighter these days, as several of thebulbs have been replaced. Also, on the corri-dor to Chase Hall, a glass cabiner on the rightis currently empty. This cabinet will be hometo the new display of Club items for sale andalso to display members’ books. This shouldbe ready to go shortly and, if you would liketo offer your book for sale, please contactMike or myself to make arrangements.

Speaking of books, Pierre and I have beenat work putting the final touches on the“Stories from the Adventurers’ Club” book.In the next few weeks we will be going toprint and there will be more informationshortly on how you can pre-order.

February 13 & 14 is the Times Adventure& Travel Expo. I will be there and several ofour members and I hope you can attend.

Finally, we have been making progress withthe landlord and getting the ladies’ restroompainted and issues taken care of. Also, therehave been a few leaks in the roof that haveneeded attention. Overall, the year has start-ed out great and please take the time to helpbring in quality speakers and guests.

February 2010 ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS2

Accomplishments of Norman Dyhrenfurth

NORMAN DYHRENFURTH EPILOGUE

Expeditions—1938 Alaskan Expedition, Harvard Univ. and National Geographic Soc.1952 Swiss Mount Everest Expedition1955 International Himalayan Expedition (leader)1958 Slick-Johnson Nepal Snowman Expedition (deputy leader)1960 Swiss Dhaulagiri Expedition1963 American Mount Everest Expedition (leader)1971 International Himalayan Expedition (joint leader)1986 International Karakorum Expedition (K2 and Broad Peak)

Awards—Hubbard Medal, National Geographic SocietyElisha Kent Kane Medal, Geographical Society of PhiladelphiaFranklin L. Burr Award, National Geographic societyCitation of Merit, Explorers’ Club of New YorkGolden Plate Award, American Academy of AchievementTenzing Norgay Award, Explorers’ Club of New York

Honorary Memberships—American Alpine ClubAppalachian Mountain ClubKorean Alpine ClubLos Angeles Adventurers ClubThe Explorers’ Club

Audiences—H.M. King Tribhuvan of NepalH.M. King Mahendra of NepalPrime Minister Jawaharlal Pandit Nehru, IndiaPresident John F. Kennedy, U. S. A.Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, EnglandPresident Lyndon B. Johnson, U. S. A.H.M. King Birendra of NepalH.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso

Film Prizes—Look Magazine Award for Castaway, U. S. Navy training film1st prize, Swiss Mount Everest Expedition 1952


Norman Dyhrenfurth & Wally Herbert

3

(Rope trick cont. on page 4)

Berlin film Festival, 1953Trento Mountain & Exploration Film Festival 19531st prize, Crucifixion, Festival of Contemporary Art, Illinois, 19531st prize, Swiss Ascent of Dhaulagiri, 1961 Trento Mtn. Film Festival

1st prize Americans On Everest at Trento Film festival,I.F.P.A. Information Film Producers of America, 1968 Blue Ribbon Awardat American Film Festival, 1968 Chris Award at Columbus Film Festival1st prize Tibetan Death Rites, 1982 Trento FestivalGrand Prix, Tibetan Death rites, Les Diablerets 1981Special prize best photography Samsara—A Tibetan Heritage at Trento

Remembering WallyHerbert

By Bob Benner #707

Sir Wally Herbert, who led an expeditionacross the frozen surface of the Arctic

Ocean on foot in 1968-69 died June 14,2007.

Herbert’s grueling trip across the Arcticearned him a knighthood in 2000. The datacollected by his four-man 40-sledge-dogexpedition is still used by scientists seek-ing to measure the melting of the NorthPole’s ice cap and the effects of climatechange.

I first met Wally in 1990 in Churchill,Canada on our way to Greenland. I got toknow him on this trip.

Three years later we met again on our wayto make the first ever circumnavigation ofGreenland. It had never been done. Wallytried on foot but failed.

The enclosed photo was taken at the verytop of Greenland and the closest land tothe North Pole on Earth. This is “Cape

Morris Jesup.” Wally is holding the Club flagon the left side. I’m on the right. We weregoing counter-clockwise around Greenland.The next day we ran into hard ice and wewent no further.

Plans were changed and we would goback via Svalbard. Wally became excitedas he might be able to see his landfall. Backin 1969 when he crossed the Pole fromAlaska.

In due course, Wally, myself and severalothers were in a zodiac. In front of us wasa small island you could measure with ayardstick (if it were flat.) Wally identifiedthis as the place and he wanted to goashore. There was no beach and all sideswere vertical. This is the northernmost is-land in the Svalbard Group.

Wally turned to painting in later years. Ihave a picture of a polar bear standing inan ice cave on an ice berg exactly like theone morning I spent off of eastern DevonIsland in a zodiac.

Wally was fantastic and a good friend.


Wake Island, the Alamo of the PacificWake, the Alamo of the Pacific

by Bill Altaffer,

Since 1988, for those not in the US military, it has been virtually impossible to

visit Wake Island. Many have tried numer-ous times over the years. I was one of thosehopeful and frequently disappointed trav-elers. After several failed attempts, I hadalmost given up. Finally, in commemora-tion of the 68th anniversary of the attackon Pearl Harbor, permission was grantedto Valor Tours and Historic Military Toursto bring a group of 141 “country baggers”and military buffs to this most difficultdestination. This group represented overa dozen nations and included many indi-viduals both well-known and well-regard-ed in traveling circles, all who had beentrying to get to Wake for years. Rather thanmention any names, partly for fear of leav-ing anyone out, I won’t. Many others inthe group were “war buffs,” people whotravel the world to see battle sites and othermilitarily significant locations. For themost part, we all had some historical in-terest in the area.

Wake is comprised of three atolls total-ing six square miles in area and located inthe North Pacific Ocean between Hawaiiand the Northern Mariana Islands. Its high-est elevation is 18 feet above sea level. Itwas discovered in the 1500s by the Span-ish and renamed two hundred years laterby the master of a British trading schoo-ner, Captain Wake. During the 1930s, PanAmerican Clipper sea planes used it as arefueling stop. Eventually, the US Navy

realized its strategic importance and beganto use it as a base.

After Pearl Harbor, on December 8, 9 and10 of 1941, Japanese air raids “softened”the island. Flying from their airfields in theMarshall Islands, thirty-six Mitsubishi G4M“Betty” bombers destroyed much of Wake’sairfield and supply depots. On December11, there was more naval shelling and anattempted Japanese landing that was re-pulsed by valiant resistance from US forc-es. Two Japanese destroyers were sunk andthe remainder retreated to Kwajalein. OnDecember 21, facing the reality of the sit-uation, the last US military float planes (thePBYs) departed from the island. Two dayslater, the remaining military personnel andcivilian contractors on Wake surrenderedto invading Japanese soldiers, the first timein history that US Marines had ever surren-dered. A relief task force that had been onits way from Hawaii was recalled when only425 miles away, leaving the island in con-trol of the Japanese.

The military personnel on Wake wereeventually sent to concentration camps inChina for the duration of the war. The ci-vilian contractors on the island were de-tained to build fortifications and defensesfor the Japanese. On October 7, 1943, theremaining civilians were brutally executedin response to a carrier strike and an ex-pected invasion by US forces. After theUS invasion succeeded, the two top Japa-nese officers there were hung for this andother war crimes.

Today, Wake is used by the Strategic AirCommand as a base for tracking missile


launches. It is home to approximately 300military and non-military support person-nel. Other than military use, its airfield hasoccasionally served as an emergency stopfor trans-Pacific flights.

Our tour began in Hawaii where weboarded Continental’s Air Micronesia (AirMic) flight to Guam. Ironically, we flewover Wake on this flight, crossing the In-ternational Date Line and losing one dayand 4 hours. A day later, our charter flightfrom Guam would take us back to Wake,regaining that lost day and returning us toHonolulu time even though we would stillbe two thirds of the way from Hawaii tothe Northern Marianas. The night beforeour flight to Wake, we attended a banquetat the Outrigger Hotel in Guam. Also inattendance were current admirals and gen-erals as well as survivors of the 1941 inva-sion of the island. Opening remarks weremade by Warren Wiedhan, USMC Colonel(Ret) and by Guam’s Governor Camacho.Rear Admiral Biesel, Brigadier GeneralBroadmeadow and Brigadier General Ru-hlman also spoke to us.

On December 12, we departed on ourchartered Air Mic flight from Guam at 5:00AM. Continental’s top management wasalso on board, along with a hand-pickedcrew. They were as excited as we all were.Several of the Wake survivors on boardwere accompanied by their families. Be-fore landing, the plane circled the atoll sev-eral times, allowing passengers seated onboth sides of the plane good views of thistop-secret missile defense station. Upondeplaning, most of us immediately photo-

graphed the Wake Air Station sign at theentrance to the airport lounge. Inside werea small museum, a shop with the usual T-shirts, hats and other souvenirs, all free oftax, and a post office where mail is collect-ed once a week, on Fridays. Our passportswere rewarded with a large Wake Islandstamp, something I have long coveted. Wewere then given maps and programs for our12-hour stay. There are no accommoda-tions for visitors on Wake, so we arrived atsunrise and left at sunset. Box lunches weresupplied by the airline.

Our group was divided onto two buseswhich went off in opposite directions andeventually covered all the sites of the is-land. One bus started with Prisoner’s Rockwhere we saw a commemorative plaquemarking the location of McArthur’s meet-ing with Truman in 1950. The other busstarted with a visit to the Drifter’s Reef Bar& Grill, passing stores, housing and achurch. A tiki statue guarded the entranceto the bar, where we were interested to findthat premium beers cost only $2. Outsidethe bar, we saw a Japanese bunker that hadbeen uprooted and moved by the last ma-jor hurricane to hit Wake.

After our bus tours, we had free time towalk around. Some of our group swam inthe lagoon. Wake also boasts excellent fish-ing and scuba diving. As we were explor-ing, Wake Islanders frequently stopped tooffer us a ride. They were extremely help-ful and very interested in our tour. Theytreated us like important dignitaries. Ofits approximately 300 inhabitants, abouthalf a dozen are female. Most of the civil-

February 2010 ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS

The Power of A Badge

6

ian workers are from Thailand. Signs wereusually written in both English and Thai.Some of the sites we saw included the re-mains of the Pan American Hotel and aramp into the ocean for seaplanes. Largejet fuel storage tanks were scattered aboutthe island, which also boasts a nine-holegolf course. Remnants of a previous Brun-swick bowling alley have become decora-tions in front of many people’s apartments.

Towards the end of the day, BrigadierGeneral Broadmeadow spoke in true mili-tary form as John Dale, a 90-year-old sur-vivor of Wake, laid a wreath at the MarineMemorial honoring the past heroes of thebattles and the Japanese occupation of theisland. We then boarded our flight back toGuam, full of positive memories of theexperiences of our short stay. Was the tripworth $1,000 a day? You betcha! Thoughfrom start to finish, it lasted less than aweek, it was the best short trip I can imag-ine. It was very special for all involved:Valor Tours, Historic Military Tours, theUS military, the Air Mic crew, the honoredveterans, and all the rest of us.

I am grateful for the perseverance of Val-or Tours and Historic Military Tours in ar-ranging this trip. It took extensive work,including many visits by HMT personnelto Hawaii and the Pentagon, to put it to-gether and get the necessary permission.There is discussion that this tour may berepeated next year. These two organiza-tions also conduct many other tours to his-toric and military locations. Contact Vickyat Valor Tours in Sausalito, California formore information.

The Power of A BadgeJim Dorsey # 1081

Most of you are aware that Pierre Odi-er, Alan Feldstein, Michael Gwaltney,

and myself recently completed a somewhatharrowing journey through West Africa torecord voodoo.

This is a little side story that took placeduring that journey.

It is a fascinating look at third world trav-el and the power of a badge.

It has been my experience that when youtravel far off the beaten path in develop-ing countries you are very likely to encoun-ter soldiers or policemen out to enhancetheir incomes by suggesting at gunpoint totravelers such as us that we contribute tothose incomes.

This usually amounts to just a couple ofdollars and, and we have always paddedour budgets for just such occasions. Inthese places it is just how business is doneand it is rarely personal.

My great rules of travel are, never arguewith a man carrying a gun, and never pho-tograph police, soldiers, or border crossings.

On our recent journey through West Af-rica we had no idea how Michael’s policebadge would come to the rescue.

Our first day out we were in a rather re-mote area when we encountered the famil-iar automatic rifle stuck through the carwindow followed by a request for moneyshould we wish to continue our travels.Three other soldiers surrounded the carwith automatic rifles.

Before anyone could say a word, Micha-


Book Review, Bil Brown...

Book Review...el had whipped out his police badge andi.d. to flash at our man who seeing that greatand large gold shield, instantly snapped toattention and rendered a perfect militarysalute, before waving us on our way.

We were thoroughly impressed by this andhad no idea it was to set the tone for ourentire journey.

In the days ahead, whenever we werestopped at a road block or border crossing,Michael would flash his badge and peoplewould jump.

Many times the police would take the badgeand pass it around to great oohs and aahs.This is a very poor area and the local policehave no such badges. Most of them have nomarking at all on their uniforms so this largeshiny hunk of gold was most impressive, notto mention that none of them were likely tospeak any English and had no way of know-ing if he was a local official, out to check onthem. Everyone was equally deferential tome even though I had no badge. Just Micha-el was enough to win me repeated salutes.

Michael carried small souvenir badgesthat he passed out to police along the waywho usually affixed them to their uniformsimmediately, being the only badges theywould have.

No one ever questioned the badge oreven asked who we were.

By the end of the third day we were notonly flying through checkpoints and road-blocks, but were ushered into local head-quarters to have our photo taken with thelocal chiefs who all inquired as to what theycould do to help us on our way. We neverhad to show a passport at a border crossing

as the badge said it all.Neither of us ever said we were active

police or tried to pass ourselves off as any-thing other than what we were. It was sim-ply people’s reaction to seeing that badge.Pure magic.

Our final day in country we were waitingin a long line at the airport in swelteringhumidity when Michael showed the badgeto a policeman and we found ourselvesbeing whisked through security and rightonto the plane.

Sinking into our seats he told me the firstthing he wanted to do when he got homewas to find a cheeseburger. I replied thatthe first thing I intended to do was go onE-bay and get myself a badge.

Bil Brown #708 joined the Club in Feb-ruary, 1964. He was program chairman

in 1975 and president in 1976. He servedon the board of Directors for many yearsand was editor of the Club News for twoor three years. He also chaired and emceed“Night of High Adventure” for three or fouryears.

Bil joined the Explorers’ Club in 1978becoming vice chairman and later chairmanof the southern California chapter.

In 1983 Bil and Bob Corey bought, didthe layouts and assembled the swivel paneldisplay in the club rooms. Also, Gene Babbitand Bil rounded up some of the famous sig-natures on the Golden Jubilee program of thefirst Air Service Round The World Flight1924-1974. These signatures included thoseof Lowell Thomas, General Doolittle, Gen-eral Leigh Wade, and Donald Douglas.


A Tribute to Ted WilliamsBy Bob Zeman

All of us in the Club are familiar withTed Williams #999 and his efforts to

survive the Bataan Death March in May,1942. These efforts were related in five is-sues of the Club News in 1999 by our lateeditor Bob Williams.

Ted was a proud member of the FourthMarine Division. He grew up on the IrvineRanch in Orange County where his fatherwas foreman of the ranch. This gave Tedaccess to an automobile at age 15 whichwas a real treat in those days.

He enlisted in the Marine Corps and wassent to the island of Luzon where he trav-eled until the Japanese attack. He devel-oped a love of the Filipino people whichhe never forgot.

After the War, he worked to support hisfamily.

But in 1984, he and Captain Louis Dun-can while visiting Corregidor, perceived theneed of a school on the island. With helpfrom locals, they shipped books and sup-plies, via the U. S. Navy to the Marines sta-tioned in Olonapou. They were then deliv-ered to Corregidor.

Building materials were purchased and theSeabees quickly converted an abandonedbuilding into a functional schoolhouse. Thiswas equipped with a computer and video.

In 1986, the Fourth Marine Chapter ofthe American Defenders of Bataan andCorregidor adopted the project as a livingmemorial and Captain Louis Duncan andTed became co-chairmen of the project.The plebiscite school, under Mrs. Vicky

Gatchalian’s tutelage and Fourth Marineassistance soon became a model facility.The Cavite School district then brought thefacility into full compliance with Philippinelaw.

The school was closed in April, 2003because the Philippine government pro-claimed Corregidor a national shrine andmoved all families with children off the is-land. The Fourth Marines searched for amore lasting tribute to our fallen comrades.

This resulted in The 4th U.S. Marines Cen-ter of Knowledge at Llamas Memorial In-stitute in Mariveles, Bataan. Llamas is theoldest high school in Mariveles.

This library was dedicated in 2006. Ma-jor James Norcross, Marine Attache fromthe U. S. Embassy in Manila presented theproclamation. The 4th Regiment is now as-signed to Camp Schwab in Okinawa. Therewere also speeches by a Filipino survivorof the Death March, a builder of the li-brary and Debby Duncan Cossart, daugh-ter of Louis Duncan. All of the presentersreceived a standing ovation.

Ted made a number of trips to the Phil-ippines over the years. On one trip he es-corted members of the Adventurers’ Club.

For his efforts, Ted was inducted into theOrder of the Knights of Rizal. This Orderis a civic, patriotic, cultural, non-sectarian,non-partisan and non-racial organizationwhich was founded for the purpose ofstudying the teachings of Dr. Jose Rizal,the Philippine national hero. It is charteredby the Congress of the Philippines.

Jose Rizal (1861-1896) was a Filipinopatriot and inspirer of Philippine national-

8


AROUND THE WORLD--EASTBOUNDBob Gannon

(Bob Gannon continued on page 10)

Bob Gannon

Dear Family and Friends,

By mid-November Lucky Lady Too andI were raring to head south from Bos-

ton to beat the coming cold weather. TheNew England states are small and LLT andI were able to stop in each. In the New YorkCity area I wanted to get a photo of LLTand the Statue of Liberty. Since a mid-airaccident last year of a fixed wing aircraftand a tourist helicopter the FAA has en-acted new flight rules for the Hudson Riv-er corridor. We were able to get a helicop-ter out of New Jersey to come along forour flight to get the photos and video.

From New York City we headed southto Washington DC. Here again the FAAhas enacted new flight rules to better pro-tect the nations capital after the Sept, 11catastrophe. I have numerous cousins andfriends in the capital and they gave me atour of several memorials I had not seensince my last visit; FD Roosevelt memori-al, the WWII memorial as well as the Ko-rean Veteran memorial.

Continuing south with stops in all the eastcoast states we crossed the Chesapeake Bayand landed where the first successful sus-tained powered flight in a heavier-than-airmachine was accomplished by Wilbur andOrville Wright in December of 1903. Theynot only built the first powered airplane butalso figured out the skills for piloting anaircraft. The inscription on the monumentat the top of the sand dune on Kill DevilHill, North Carolina reads “In commemo-ration of the conquest of the air by the

brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, con-ceived by genius achieved by dauntless res-olution and unconquerable faith.”

In Ft. Meyers, Florida we celebratedThanksgiving with family before headingon thru the Everglades to Key West, thesouthern most point of mainland USA.Returning along the eastern shore of Flor-ida, past Miami Beach, LLT is now parkedin the Orlando area to await our next leg.

Flying low level around the world gives aunique perspective on Gods created geog-raphy as well as man made structures ob-served from overhead. Two items on thisleg were most interesting. The first wasthe flight over the Chesapeake Bay wherea dual-span bridge crosses 6 miles of seabefore disappearing into the water for a onemile of tunnel only to once again appearback upon top as a bridge for another 6miles. This is repeated again before reach-ing the opposite shore of the ChesapeakeBay making the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel one of the seven engineering won-ders of the modern world. In the Key West,Florida area there is a 5 mile• circle listedon aviation maps that rises to 15,000 feetelevation. Upon further research one findsthat in the middle of this is a huge radarblimp affectionately known as Fat AlbertFat Albert is tethered to a truck by a thicksteel cable and rose to 10,000 feet the daywe departed Key West and circled the dan-ger zone to have a look. Its primary pur-pose is for drug enforcement. Several air-craft over the years have errored in flyinginto Fat Alberts cable, much to their de-mise. Both of these are impressive sites


Around the World / We Heard From(Around the World, cont. from page 9)

from the air.Lucky Lady Too and I took off 9 years

ago to see the world. To date we have beenfortunate enough to have met the peopleand seen the wonders of 140 countries onall the continents. We have been westaround the world in the southern hemi-sphere and east around the world in thenorthern hemisphere. We have been overthe North Pole and down to the Antarcticapeninsula. We have one more year on this10 year world flying adventure. Next legwill take us into the Caribbean. We have abit more of South America, Mexico, andCanada to see and hope to land in all the48 mainland USA states before we landback where we started in San Diego. Thatis â€¦ if we don’t crash somewhere.

The world is my country, all mankind mybrother, and to do good is my religion.•Thomas Paine.

Wishing you and all your loved ones amost enjoyable holiday season and a brandnew year,

Bob Gannon and Lucky Lady Too

We Heard FromKeith Bates reports

For 21 days last October I hunted in Tan-zania with a very good doctor buddy

of mine, John Looper. John lives to huntbuffalo so that was our primary goal. I haveshot many buffalo in the past in Kenya,Rhodesia, and Tanzania so felt that onlyone would suffice for this trip. John had alicense for four and was in buffalo huinter’sheaven with buffalo plentiful but difficult

to find in the dense brush.What made the trip interesting was our

PH (Professional Hunter.) Her name isNatasha Illum Berg and she is the only li-censed woman PH in all of east Africa. Thetrip was booked through Robin Hurt Safa-ris.

Not only was Natasha charming, intelli-gent and attractive, she was one of the bestPH’s I’ve ever hunted with in the 35 yearsI’ve been hunting in Africa.

We had a great time, got all the buffalowe wanted, jumped into swimming holes,and set up our lunch tables in the middleof shallow streams to keep cool. Believeme this was a memorable trip. And I’m look-ing forward to seeing Natasha again at theSCI Reno convention January 21.

The other news I’d like to share is progresson the social network I launched for ad-venturers about two years ago. My inspira-tion was my 35-year membership in theAdventurers’ Club of Chicago. You canvisit the site at www.myadventures.com,and by clicking on this link you will see thelisting for the Adventurers’ Club of LosAngeles. I would encourage all the mem-bers to join and the club too as each mem-bership comes with a blog capability inwhich you could promote the club and per-haps bring in new members…which is thelife blood of any organization.


Editor’s PageEditor’s Page / Letters

Bob Zeman #878 - Editor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Richard Litchfield is presently in CaboSan Lucas on business to discuss a muchlarger adventure.Roger Haft sent us a card from Ham-burg, Germany

Larry Schutte wrote from Tawali,Milne Bay in New Guinea havingendured a 26-hour trip of threeplanes, a bus and a boat.

Bernie and Devera Harris stopped in St.Croix, Virgin Islands on the way to anAmazon River cruise with Bill and PatMurrell.

Thanks to all of our members who havecontributed to this issue and other is-

sues. Due to you, the quality of the Newsremains high.

For those of you who believe the Newsis biased in any way, submit your articlesand/or opinions to level the playing field.

One of the highlights of the Club forthose who attend meetings is the weeklywitticism or insightful comment of BobSilver. His “Silver Linings” are too quickfor this reporter to get but are right on pointto the delight of the audience.

I heard a good quote the other day. “Aveteran is someone who at one point in hisor her life wrote a blank check made pay-able to “The United States of America” foran amount of “up to and including my life.”

Another thank you goes to Jay Foonbergwho has taken on the task of updating theroster. He has put out a Club roster that isas current as he can get. It includes thename; status; member number; address;business, home and cell phone numbers and

e-mail.Using the trite metaphor of making reso-

lutions for the New Year, the followingwould help the Club:

1. To attend as many meetings as myschedule will allow.

2. To bring a guest at least once amonth.

3. To send in a story to the Adventur-ers: Club News.

4. To suggest a program to the Pro-gram Chairman

5. To volunteer to help the ExhibitsCommittee

6. To recruit at least one new mem-ber.

And I still think that the idea of DonWaters of an epilog for a member is a goodone. This would consist of a member de-scribing briefly the moment or time in hislife when he made a change to get off thebeaten track and not look back.

Bill Morse started this off in good fash-ion and it is time to continue it.


Minutes – January 7, 2010

THURSDAY NIGHTS AT THE CLUB

12

Meeting, January 7, 2010

The first meeting of the new year, Pres-ident Allan Smith announced the pass-

ing of Doug McDonald #758. Bob Sil-ver gave an eloquent eulogy rememberingDoug as a 1942 graduate of Notre Damewho entered the army as an artillery offic-er. Doug joined the Club in 1967 and laterserved it as first vice president and presi-dent in 1982. He was polite, a gentlemanand a good leader who did not suffer fools.He participated in several field trips for theLos Angeles Museum of Natural Historyin the fields of paleontology and mineralo-gy.

After three weeks off, it appears half ofthe members had gone off on an adven-ture.

Bernie and Devera Harris with Bill andPat Murrell went on a Caribbean cruise andthen 900 miles up the Amazon to Manaus.The city holds 2 million people and theopera house is beautiful. The cruise stoppedat Barbados, Dominica, Trinidad and St.Lucia along with Devil’s Island off ofFrench Guiana. He did bring back a cere-monial blow gun and a piranha.

Shane Berry returned from Panama. Hespent time in Boquete but heavy rainscaused him to miss the Quetzal trail. Hedid get to see some of the Oso Peninsulain Costa Rica.

Steve Bein traveled to Cuba and sawMarina Hemingway. The old architectureis beautiful and there are many 1950s vin-tage automobiles. But he did get dysentery.

Jeff Holmes returned from Buenos Aires.

Based on four categories of culture, costof living, good food and beautiful women,that the city is the best place in the worldto live.

Roger Haft got sick and had to cancelhis trip to New Guinea.

After a one-day delay, Pierre Odier flewto China and then to Laos. He spoke to32,000 people using two interpreters. Hevisited 15 minority groups in the area. Heeven hiked three hours to a village wherethey make paper out of bamboo.

In one village, the writers took Chinesecharacters, changed their meaning andwrote manuscripts. Pierre bought one ofthese 200-year old books on mythology. Buthe doesn’t know anyone who can read it.

Jay Foonberg ran the route 66 half-mar-athon in Tulsa and another half marathonin Las Vegas.

Bob Zeman participated in the annualAudubon bird count in Santa Barbara. San-ta Barbara finished first in the state andthird in the country with 216 species count-ed. He saw about 35 species in his sectorincluding his target bird, a snipe.

Jeff Holmes was inducted into the Clubas member #1148. He gave is first threeimpressions. First was seeing Sid Hallburn’sdemonstration of tap dancing and a knifefight. Second was an offer from Roger Haftto carpool. And third was when a memberwhispered in Jeff ’s ear”Watch out for thisguy named Bob. But don’t worry abouthim.”

Adventures in Hollyweird


Minutes – January 7 & 14, 2010 .

13

(Minutes continued on page 14)

Jeffrey Goddard told of growing up theson of John and the grandson of Jack.

But his interest was always in the mediaand entertainment. He had a number ofsmall jobs including being a tour guide inHawaii.

He later went on a two-year Mormonmission to Shikoku, Japan. Here he set agoal to learn 10 new Japanese characterseach day.

He stayed in Japan and was the first gaijinhired at a large Japanese advertising firmwith 50,000 employees. He even appearedfor six months on a Japanese game showand he wrote a magazine column.

He was sent by the firm to southern Cal-ifornia as a reverse ex-pat to generate salesfrom local firms. He was successful at ob-taining clients for the firm that the Japa-nese asked him and his wife to return toJapan to cultivate the business he had gen-erated.

But Jeff said no. He wanted to start hisown firm.

His idea was to do ad campaigns. Hepounded on doors for six months with nosuccess. Then he landed his first job mar-keting Tofu. It was a success and the firmgrew over the years to 22 employees.

Jeffrey showed videos of his special ef-fects and illusions that he uses for videobrochures. His company is called TVA (theVideo Agency.) He was featured on theshow “How’d They Do That?” showing histechniques. He did produce a feature filmcalled Nobel’s son but it flopped. He didbetter on the media campaign for “BottleShock” about a French wine-tasting com-

petition won by a U.S. vintner.His father was known for his original 127

goals. (These have now grown to more than500.) And Jeff has his goals. One is to breakfour hours in the marathon. He has run onein four hours and 20 minutes. He did runthe Great Wall and he has hiked from thesouth rim of the Grand Canyon to thenorth rim.

Jeffrey also puts on the CAMIE (Charac-ter and Morality in Entertainment) awardsevery year and he is proud of this.

Other accomplishments by Jeffrey in-clude scuba diving, visiting Butchart Gar-dens in Victoria, riding an ATV on Hale-akala and traveling with his wife to Ushua-ia. And they have six children. He still lec-tures in Japan and he is planning a trip toThailand.

Meeting January 14, 2010

Former President Robert DeMottstepped up in absence of our president

and first vice president and showed thathis wit is still the best.

Our only adventurer leaving was RogerHaft who is hiking the L. A. River.

But new member Tom Buttgenbach justgot back from a trip to Nicaragua, CostaRica and Panama.

Alan Feldstein urged all to see the newmovie “North Face” about the attempts byEuropean climbers to be the first to scalethe north face of the Eiger in Switzerland.

front page about our member Ralph Whiteand the spreading of his ashes around theworld. The story turned out great. I would


(Minutes continued from page 13)Minutes – January 14, 2010

14

Bob Zeman noted it is based on the book“The White Spider.”

It was good to see Larry Schutte. OnSeptember 19th, he was with an instructorin a Rans experimental aircraft learninghow to fly. On a dry lake near Palmdale,the aircraft hit an air pocket after a 180-degree turn and lost air speed. It fell 50feet to the ground and Larry fractured abone in his back. He then crawled 75 feetto his cell phone to ask for help.

Nine days later in a brace Larry flew 14hours to Brisbane, then four hours to PortMoresby, then a short hop to Alotau and athree hour bus ride to Tawali in the far east-ern end of Papua New Guinea. He thenmade 27 dives in six days to obtain hisNational Geographic certification.

Roy Roush said that one can lose airspeed in a downwind turn in a gyrocopter.Bob Silver asked Roy how many planesRoy had been in that crashed. Roy said onemore and he’ll be an ace.

Ric Flores said a celebration will be heldfor the 50th golden anniversary of man’sDeepest Dive by Bathyscaph Trieste onJanuary 23, 2010 in San Diego.

Devil’s Island

Jim Dorsey has been on four expeditionswith Pierre Odier and introduced him

as one of the great explorers of our time.Pierre began by saying that French Gui-

ana is noted for three things—the homeof the prisoners banished from France,natural resources including 15 species ofvaluable lumber and an virtually unex-plored hinterland.

One cannot land on Devil’s Island. It isabout 1,300 yards long and 440 yards widewith groups of palms. Access for manyyears was by a cable.

The most famous prisoner was AlfredDreyfus who was kept there for five years.A stone building was built for him and hebuilt himself a stone bench. He waswatched day and night by a guard and hewrote hundreds of letters to his family.

A larger island of the Iles du Salut, IleRoyale is where lepers were first sent andlater the prisoners.to a hospital on the IleRoyale. Over the decades close to 700,000prisoners were held and only one in 10 sur-vived. Of those who became sick, somewere stuck in a “hospital ward” with poorcare and died and some were thrown to thesharks. .

The hospital was well designed and is stillstanding. Pierre had slides of the structuresand even found out where the guillotineswere based.

The cells at Ile St. Joseph were open tothe sky and rain fell right on the prisoners.The guards could walk on rails above andlook down.

Pierre made exact measurements duringhis four trips to the islands and was able todocument events based on his attention todetail. He attempted to take some old winebottles back home that he had found in theruins of a jungle camp but they were con-fiscated at the airport. He did bring backsome bricks.

Pierre told the story of Hmong familiesfrom Vietnam who fled and ended up inFrench Guiana. They scratched out a set-


Minutes – January 14 & 21, 2010

15


tlement in the middle of the jungle and gotsome plants and seeds. Their produce wassold in the local marketplace. Over theyears they have increased the quality andmuch is exported to France.

On July 16, 1991, Pierre was able to in-terview Jacek Baron who was born on 14June 1905. Jacek showed Pierre all of hispossessions that he retrieved and therewasn’t much.

Pierre did get in contact with Rene Bel-benoit’s family which offered to sell his ar-tifacts to Pierre for a few hundred dollars.Pierre agreed but the offer was conditionalon the family not receiving a better offer.But Pierre was outbid by $150,000 by aFrench organization..

Meeting January 21, 2010

Despite the rain, a good crowd of 67adventurers and explorers ate dinner.

In addition,we were joined by our web mas-ter Rick Jackson from Alabama.

Fred Hareland described his day trip ona nuclear submarine in which he droppedRalph White’s ashes over the side.

Reda Anderson also toured the nuclearsubmarine Los Angeles on its final cruisefrom San Diego to San Pedro. Both Fredand Reda said the subs went through an-gles and dangles in which it veered fromside to side and pitched also.

Steve Bein is going to Duroville near In-dio to photograph the neutering of animals.Then he is going to San Diego to photographbrown pelicans in breeding plumage.

Rick and Doris Flores are flying to Maui

and Rick will drive the Hana Highway.Chapter President of the southern Cali-

fornia Explorers Club David Dolan wel-comed Alfred McLaren and other Clubmembers. Fred has dove with Don Walsh,Ralph White, Anatoly Sagalevitch andEmory Kriston.

Unknown Waters—A First hand Ac-count of the Historic Under-Ice Surveyof the Siberian Continental Shelf by USSQueenfish (SSN-651.) by Captain AlfredMcLaren

Fred was the commanding officer of thesubmarine. It was 292 feet long with a

beam of 32 feet and a displacement of4,650 tons.The top of the conning tower(now called the sail) was 54 feet above thebottom of the rudder.The crew was highlyeducated with many bachelor’s degrees andeven some Ivy Leaguers.

The boat left Pearl Harbor on 6 July 1970for a cruise up to Washington and Alaska.It reached pack ice on 31 July. It then fol-lowed the path of the Nautilus which wasthe first to reach the North Pole in 1958under the command of William Andersonand the navigation of Dr. Waldo Lyon.

The Queenfish reached the Pole on 5August. Photos were taken of the crewwith the flags of all of the 50 states. A crew-member even dressed as Santa Claus. Butan armed lookout was needed because po-lar bears were a concern. Frogmen in drysuits did dive for exploration.

The crew discovered that the bottom ofthe ice was highly irregular and used an ice-berg detector to avoid a collision. The de-


(Minutes continued from page 15)Minutes – January 21 & 28, 2010

16

tector had a range of 500 to 800 yards. The sub went south and the first land

fall reached outside of the Arctic sea ice-was Sevelnaya Zemla. The salinity varieddepending on the depth increasing as thewater gets deeper.

On 18 August the sub surfaced in a openplace and the conning tower spotted a bear.The bear and her cubs did come within afew feet.

At one point on the survey, the subcruised into a cavern with ice on both sides.Due to the shallow depth, it took an hourof slow reversing to extricate the sub.

Captain McLaren finished the survey on31 August. In addition to geographical find-ings, the survey also looked for evidenceof fossil fuels and minerals.

He wrote a book called Unknown Wa-ters recounting the survey.

Nowadays, Captain McLaren is involvedwith experimental submarines. The old sub-mersibles were dropped from a supportship and descended until the weights werejettisoned. His organization has a submers-ible called the Super Aviator that has aspeed of six knots and a range of 25 miles.

Another sub called the Orca sub canreach a depth of 14,000 feet using wings.This has a range of 200 miles and can beused for studying tectonic plates and ex-ploring for metals.

A long range goal is to find the remainsof the Terror and Erebus, the two ships ofthe Franklin Expedition that were lost in1848-1849. All 129 aboard died, many dueto starvation.

January 28, 2010By Martin Bloom and Bob Aronoff

President Allan Smith welcomed the at-tendees, brought a guest and told of the

article on the distribution of the remainingissues of Ralph White that is being circu-lated in the media.

Bob Gannon #1066 dropped in betweenflights. On his last leg he piloted his Cess-na 182 to 45 landings in 18 island coun-tries in the Caribbean.

Larry Schutte is heading down to SanDiego’s “wreck Island” to make four dives.

Siberia and the Yenisey River

Fresh from being name the most trav-eled man in the world, Bill Altafer told

of his 12 trips to Russia starting in 1964.During the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, Bill did

not look forward to going to Soviet Russia.It was difficult traveling there. The hotelsand restaurants were uncomfortable and in-hospitable. Destinations were highly con-trolled. It was an ordeal rather than a plea-sure. Today, he can’t get enough of Russia.

Russia still has closed cities, 236 of themto be exact. It also has very open and en-gaging people, beautiful countryside,unique architecture in historical cities, ex-cellent food and plenty of attractions toappeal to all tastes and interests. It is chang-ing rapidly in many ways at it joins themodern world. Bill saw many differencesbetween this visit and what he experiencedjust a year ago. For example, the women inhis group noted that almost all the public


Minutes – January 28 & February 4, 2010

17


toilets now carry toilet paper and have soapand running water.

In all cities there are monuments andfountains that work. Public places are al-ways accented by large plantings of color-ful flowers. The people have great pride intheir country. The people are as fashion-able and trendy as anywhere else in theworld.

The country has 11 time zones and Billshowed slides from all. Some locations werebright and cheery and others like the Gu-lags of Siberia were downright depressing.

Especially bad was the town that shouldbe voted the dreariest place on earth. Herepeople are literally conscripted to minenickel and live a life in a totally pollutedenvironment.

The city of Perm has a population of onemillion persons. It was the head office ofthe many gulags of the time. “Seven” wasthe official number but the real number wascloser to 30. This was confirmed by PierreOdier.

Yakutsk was built on permafrost. About20% of Russia’s diamond production comesfrom the surrounding region. Bill stated thatYakutsk was the coldest city on earth.

The last part of Bill’s presentation tookus to Wake Island and Guam. He went witholder ex-World War II veterans who werestationed there and fought the Japanese.

See Bill’s article on this trip in the News.

Meeting Feb. 4, 2010

A good crowd with a few guests showedup despite a threat of rain.

Steve Bein’s weekend jaunt took him tothe La Jolla area where he photographedbrown pelicans.

Ric Flores returned from five days inMaui. Adventure? He did hike HaleakalaCrater on the east side which is around theisland. He hiked to the waterfall through abamboo forest and a heavy wind. He triedanother ridge hike but turned back did ashort hike in a state park.

President Allan Smith through an invi-tation from Jim Cameron attended a pri-vate screening of “Avatar.”

Tom Dahlgren, guest of Robert De-Mott, returned from Bratislava and Ger-many. He and his wife took a five-day cruiseon the Danube and saw many castles.

Larry Schutte did dive on the “Yukon” awreck deliberately sunk a half mile off SanDiego in 110 feet of water. It was cold andmurky.

Ebullient Bob Gannon is in town. He andhis Cessna 182 Lucky Lady Too landed in St.Lucia, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Bahamas,St. Barts, St. Martin/Maarten, the Grenadines,and Grenada and are off to Trinidad, Colom-bia, and San Andreas Island off Venezuela.Bob is as excited as ever and incredibly hashis paperwork in order to land and take offeither legally or before he is caught.

The Search for Noah’ Ark

David Larsen has had a passion for

like to thank Alan Feldstein’s wife DianeHaithman who worked for the Times formaking this happen.


(Minutes continued from page 17)

18

Ted Williams, Minutes from February 4, 2010

ism. He sought to prove throughout hiscareer that Filipinos were the intellectualand moral equals of their Spanish masters;he also worked for fundamental politicaland social reforms.

Today the Order of the Knights of Rizalhas more than 180 chapters in the Philip-pines and more than 60 international chap-ters worldwide.

Henry von Seyfried is the commander ofthe Los Angeles chapter. He has been amember for about 20 years and has risen tothe rank of fourth degree. Henry was ableto get Ted admitted as a third degree mem-ber or Knight Commander because of Ted’smeritorious service and the fact that Tedhas written a book called Rogue Warriors. .

Noah’s Ark for 30 years. He has been toTurkey nine times and climbed on Mt.Ararat five times. He says he is not reallyan adventurer but he has done dumbthings—one of which was to climb themountain at night to avoid the military.

David’s first hike was with a NewZealander named Paul Thomson. The firsttime Paul ascended he was apprehendedby the Turkish military and held for a dayand a half. The second time—same thing—except this time Paul was a guest of themilitary for 35 days.The Turks said theywere suspicious of members of the PKKa secret Kurdish terrorist organization.

On David’s first trip with Paul, Daviddescended early due to bad weather andno tent. But he was attacked by four wild

dogs. He threw a rock and nailed the first.The rest he kept at bay as he descended.

A definite finding of Noah’s Ark wouldconfirm the story in the Bible and alsochange many theories on evolution. Davidshowed slides on the Grand Canyon andcompared its changes over millions of yearswith life on earth.

He showed slides of a coelacanth caughtin 1934 which has been around for millionsof years along with a wollemia pine tree inwhich there has been no change.

David discussed the fact that a wealth ofinformation documents the probability thatNoah’s Ark’s remains still exist on Mt. Arar-at. These include living testimony of eyewit-nesses (such as Allan Smith’s grandmoth-er), historical accounts and archaeologicaldiscoveries.There is a book with photographstaken in 1919 of the interior of the ark.

David referred to Charles Lyell, the “fa-ther of modern geology” who had set outto destroy the Biblical record of the floodand of Noah’s Ark. Lyell studied erosionand his writings along with those of CharlesDarwin gave acceptance to the idea of vasteras of time. But David contends thatsometimes seismic events can occur thathasten erosion and therefore, change ouridea of how old something is.

He even discussed four “evolutionarylinks” – Java Man, Piltdown Man, Heidel-berg Man and Neanderthal Man. But each ofthese has a flaw in its attempt to be the mss-ing link.

Ed Davis was an American stationed inIran with the American military in world WarII. Ed developed a friendship with Badi Abas,

Minutes cont, February 4


World War II Los Angeles Air Raid

By Bob Benner #707Time: Feb. 25, 1942—about 0230 hours

WWII and the U.S. involvement had juststarted following the bombing of

Pearl Harbor. I was 16-1/2 years old andhad just graduated from Dorsey High Schoolin Los Angeles, By this time, we have hadseveral blackouts being as we were locatedon the Pacific Coast.

A searchlight battery was set up just oneblock south of my home. It was located onthe south side of Vernon Avenue betweenNinth and Tenth Avenues. The neighbor-hood kept the troops supplied with cook-ies, etc. They conducted regular nightlydrills with their two large searchlights andit was interesting to me to watch their ac-tions close up. No guns at this location.

I was involved with both the Boy ScoutsEmergency service and also as an Air RaidWarden messenger, complete with tin hatand armband.

The night of the “Raid” the siren wentoff and I was up in a flash, dressed com-pletely with tin hat and armband. Out thefront door into complete darkness! Therewas no moon, no streetlights, no automo-biles in operation or any other source oflight. It was black. In fact, I held my handup in front of my face and I could not seeit.

The Air Raid Warden I was working withlived about a mile away north of my home.It did not seem practical to try and find myway over to his house so I decided to seewhat I could do around my home. I headedover to the searchlight battery a block awayto the south. I very slowly made my way

over there but they were not in operation.No nearby targets.

I now had time to look up and, wow,searchlights to the west and northwest wereon something over Santa Monica, travel-ing in a NW—to—SE direction. Whateverit was, sure was illuminated. I saw one ob-ject traveling at a slow speed with thebeams following it with some fifteen totwenty searchlights on it. I would say it wasgoing from Santa Monica to the Long Beacharea. There was some gunfire a long wayaway but I saw nothing of the shells.

During this time, I was working my westof Vernon Avenue, crossed Eleventh Ave-nue and saw a light. A dentist had a smallbuilding on the south side of Vernon andin a back room a light was on. I went tocheck it out. A light of any kind during ablackout was a strict no no. No one was inthe building so what to do? A brick throughthe window? Call the dentist? I decided itwasn’t much of a light and only a smallarea so it wasn’t that important. So the lightburned on and I continued west on Vernonup to Crenshaw, while watching the con-tinuing action overhead. By now it wassomewhere over Redondo Beach and leav-ing my area. I saw no one on the streetswhile I was out except the troops at thesearchlight battery. Enough was enough soI headed home and back to bed.

The night was exciting, interesting andkind of anti-climactic. So ended my part inthe Los Angeles air raid of 25 Feb. 1942.Three years later, 20 Feb. 1945, I wascommissioned an ensign in the UnitedStates Navy, but that is another story.


New Members

Frank Drake graduated from CornellUni-versity and obtained his PhD from

Harvard. He served as professor of astron-omy from 1964 at Cornell and then tookthe same position at the University of Cal-ifornia in 1984.

He has made significant contributions toradio astronomy, including radio studies ofthe planets.

He is best known for his pioneeringsearch for extraterrestrial intelligence. In1975 with Carl sagan they began using theArecibo 1000-foot radio telescope to lis-ten to several nearby galaxies. No contactwas made. But he declared “A search ofhundreds of thousands of stars in the hopeof detecting one message would requireremarkable dedication and would proba-bly take several decades.”

Frank did design the Pioneer plaque withSagan which was the first physical messagesent into space. The plaque was designedto be understandable by extraterrestrialsshould they encounter it.

He is a member of the National Acade-my of Sciences. He proposed the plan usedin the design of the Allen Telescope Ar-ray. He is the director of the Carl SaganCenter for the Study of Life in the Uni-verse. The Center is part of the SETI In-stitute whose mission is to explore, under-stand and explain the origin, nature andprevalence of life in the universe.

who said that Mt. Ararat was indeed the lo-cation of the ark. Badi’s father agreed to es-cort the two to Mt. Ararat. After three daysof climbing, Ed was taken to the edge of acliff where he could look down into what hecalled a “horseshoe-shaped” canyon and hesaw an enormous wooden ship that was bro-ken apart into at least two sections.

Ed was interviewed in the late 1980s andthe analyst concurred that he had seen a largewooden vessel on top of a mountain.

There is also a book with photographsof sightings in 1919 showing how the stallswere laid out for the animals and the uniquewatering system allowing Noah and hissmall family to tend for the animals. Theseanimals include the dinosaur.

David went to Turkey in 1997, 1998,1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005. He hadvarying successes on each trip. He believesthe remains are in the Ahora Gorge.

He brought a model of the ark to theClub stating it was 500 feet long and threestories high. He showed slides of his hikeson the mountain and the open terrain.

He also showed slides of tools, hammersand vessels that were old.

When asked about Carbon 14 dating, hestated that it is only valid for objects goingback 50,000 years that were once livingand still in the same shape.

Vince Will has chartered a plane and flownaround the mountain but that practice is nowforbidden by the Turkish military.

David’s book confirms his belief and istitled “Dinosaurs on the Ark” A numberof members bought the book.

New Members, Minutes of February 4, 2010


Forthcoming ProgramsPrograms / Notes

Paul Spitzzeri, Emigrant Adventures in Early Los AngelesMike Leum from the L. A. Sheriff ’s Department, Search and Rescue Division

To be determined

To be determined To be determined To be determined

February 18, 2010 –February 25, 2010 –tt –March 4, 2010 –

March 11, 2010 –March 18, 2010 –March 25, 2010 –

––

–

Silver Linings by Bob Silver

Where will you be when the Adventurers’ Club celebrates its century birthday in 1922?Where will the Club be and how will it be transformed, if at all?

Remember the Club’s many venues, presidents, great programs and members. Also, it canbe recalled that the Club has never been robust financially and has always dreamed of itsown home. Stalwart leaders progress until they move out of town or go on the GreatAdventure.So, are there any suggestions, maybe a modest proposal?Glad you asked—here goes:

1. Have a standing Centenary Committee (Cencom) composed of former presidentswho shall envision how they’d like to see the Club on its big birthday. Cencom isempowered to appoint non-presidents as participants in planning.

2. Cencom is empowered to poll the membership by questionnaire to determine howwe see ourselves past, present and future.

3. Cencom shall select a chairman who shall submit to the Club’s Board no lessfrequently than bi-annually a white paper consisting of a majority and if any minority.

4. And I hope we can all attend this birthday party.

February 2010

The

Adventurers’ Club NewsPO Box 31226Los Angeles CA 90031

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