 Bob stepped aboard the Spangler on April 2. 1952, as Chief, Gunnery Division, and remained until the ship was decom- missioned in 1958. Some of you may remember Bob as that dastardly King Neptune when the Spangler crossed the equator in January 1957. Others may recall the photographs later that year of him sitting and playing with young children at the orphanage near Yokosuka, Japan. When Bob left the Spangler in 1958 he took along a small souvenir (the "washboard off the Spangler," all maple and all 10-feet of it) which he made into a workbench. His son, Bruce, still retains the workbench. He retired in 1959 following 19 years and six months of service. Not a lot is known of his service record, but we know that he served aboard the USS Seminole in 1952 (since his family has in their possession his "Honorary Order of Arctic Adventurers" card from the Seminole dated 1952). On his retirement, he purchased a little grocery store with a small house attached. As time went on he tore down the little store and eventually gave away the house to a neighbor with heavy equipment who graded the lot in exchange. He and his family built a larger building on the lot and his wife rents out the building to this day. Bob passed away in 1970 at the ripe old age of 50 from a heart attack and "clinical diabetes while at the Balboa Hospital in San Diego. Submitted by his son Bruce Krtek.
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