zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

Re: No documentation that it ever occurred... Posted By: Joseph Date: 4/1/0819:28 GMT

In Response To: No documentation that it ever occurred... (Chicagoland Chuck Maddox)

Thanks for the Response Chuck.

I am asking because I have recently came in possession of a few Nasa artifacts as well as a SpeedmasterPro Mark 2.

Hi Joseph.

Ok, I'm interested to hear about them.

Here is the story:

A family friend in his late 80's had passed away recently. John originally was a Pilot in WW2 for Germany. After the war he moved on to work for U.S government counter-intelligence, and much later worked as a district manager for the Pinkerton's company.

OK...

John had known my Mother for more than 15 years and had no family left. Much of the time I spent with him I heard many amazing stories. One story he told me was about how he got his Omega Speedmaster Mark2.

The Mark II a subject near and dear to my heart!

It's been about 5 years so I will do my best to remember the story. Basically he told me that a Russian submarine was off the coast of Florida spying and interfering with NASA's space launch. (Sorry I don't remember details). John had said that he consulted NASA / US Government and was given the Mark2 by Schirra for helping them. John had also shown me an Apollo 7 Patch that "was cut from a NASA jacket" and a genuine NASA flight jacket withJohns name on it.

Ok, Truth be told... Having met Wally Schirra and spoken with him at length last year about 10 weeks before his passing, this sort of thing does not sound out of line at all with something that Wally would do. Wally certainly came across as a very genuine and personable guy, just as you'd expect from seeing him on TV and the like. He was a great guy!

Since John's death I now have the patch http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-7/apollo-7-patch.jpg), the omega Mark2, and the NASA Jacket with his name on it. I was also told that the Mark2 had been in space.

Here's the thing... As I mentioned the Mark II was released in 1969. It's "birth year" is very well documented. There isn't really any doubt assocated with that. And the Apollo 7 mission occured in October of 1968. It'd seem very unlikely that a Mark II flew with the Apollo 7 crew. And since Apollo 7 was Wally's last space mission, It would seem unlikely that it flew with Wally. Now it may well have flown at a later date with another Astronaut, and either Wally lent/gave it so it could be "Space Flown", etc. or somehow Wally came into possession of it somehow. I just don't see how to reconcile the date of birth of the watch with the Apollo 7 mission. That's all.

I will post some pictures of the jacket, patch, andwatch soon.

Cool! I look forward to them!

John did not say the watch was from Apollo 7 nor does he have any pictures of him with NASA.

Too bad, but it's still a very interesting story. Could very well be true too!

The story is pretty amazing if it is true.

Absolutely.

John didn't seem to be the type to make up stories. I was shown so many of his old pictures and was told their story. I really should of made more of an effort to get details about the watch and jacket before he passedaway.

I was amazed at the stories Wally told when I was around him last February. We all need to be like sponges around these guys and to share and pass along their experieces or we've lost something truely grand!

(R.I.P John).

Godspeed Wally!

-- Chuck

ChuckMaddox

Watch Article Index: http://www.xnet.com/~cmaddox/cm3articles.html,

WatchLinks Page: http://www.xnet.com/~cmaddox/watch.html,

Watch Blog: http://chuckmaddoxwatch.blogspot.com/.

Chronographs, like most finer things in life, onlyimprove with time...