[RTTY] BARTG SPRINT VK4UC

[Kok Chen]

VK4UC wrote:

> During several qso's I received a "HI C.T."  salutation.  It took a 
> while to discover that a new friend file had just become available.  I 
> had been traveling for two weeks and had not been up to date with the 
> reflector. Apparently the new file is a compilation of many prior 
> files, some going WAY back.  It had  two entries for VK4UC= and the 
> first one that was listed was (I expect from the earliest file) 
> VK4UC=C. T.  Now this noteworthy gentleman has been an Silent Key 
> (RIP) for at least 6 years and I have held the reissued call for the 
> last 5 years.

You too, John?

During BARTG, Shelby had called me Wilke.

Wilke E. Cruse (1913-1996) was the original W7AY.  N0AH told
me he was known on the air as Bill,I believe, not Wilke.  Ward also
told me that before the war, Mr. Cruse was a radio op on the Seattle-
Yokohama-Shanghai run.

For years, the callsign had been idle because the favorite way to mine
for expired Extra calls is through the Social Security Death Index, and 
Mr.
Cruse did not even have a social security number; he was grandfathered
under some old federal pension system and did not have to join the
social security system.  Mr. Cruse was not buried anywhere, either;
his death certificate shows that he had donated his body to the 
University
of Washington medical school.

During some future NA Sprint, in his honor, I will likely use "Wilke" 
as the
exchange.

73
Chen, W7AY