A Photo NASA Wishes Didn’t Exist 

Guenter Wendt was a highly respected and beloved NASA contractor.   His attention to detail and commitment to safety was legendary.  Following the tragic Apollo 1 fire NASA Astronaut Wally Schirra made it clear that he wouldn’t fly unless Guenter was in charge of the white room and personally closed the spacecraft’s hatch.  It become customary for the for the spacemen to present Guenter with some small gag gift on launch day to express their appreciation.  Not to seem ungrateful Guenter often had a reciprocal gift. 

Launch day dawned for Apollo 14 on January 31, 1971 and it just so happened that Mission Commander Alan Shepard and Guenter went way back.  On May 5th 1961 it had been Guenter who had strapped Shepard into Mercury-Redstone 3.  That flight had been only a fifteen minute suborbital space lob, but it established Shepard as the first American in space and thus secured his place in history.  However by the time Apollo 14 rolled around Shepard was pushing fifty.   As a not so subtle reminded of Shepard’s advanced age Guenter gifted the famous rocket jock with an old man’s walking cane labeled, Lunar Explorer Support Equipment.   

In those less politically correct day Shepard gave Guenter, who was a German born naturalized American citizen, a helmet with the words Col. Guenter Klink printed on the front and a Nazi swastika drawn on the side.  This was a reference to Col. Klink the bumbling prison camp commander on the Hogan’s Heroes TV sitcom.  To be fair Guenter had never been a member of the Nazi party or a supporter of Hitler.  He had however been a flight engineer on a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88G night fighter.  To show that he was a good sport and could take a little ribbing Guenter put the helmet on and smiled.  A photographer captured the moment on film.  I wonder what historians of the future will think when they come across this picture.