Todd,

The Nazi radio, hidden behind 1945 newspapers, was viewed by me in 1975. I
was age 29 and sober at the time. My friend and his wife bought the place
after it had been in probate for several years. The man who lived there
previously had been there since the 1930s. I had seen him between the ages of
10 and 16, as it was my childhood neighborhood.

So here is what you have for the puzzle:

1)  A radio approximately 24-inches by 10-inches by 8-inches was recovered
under the house in 1975. It had an arched gray painted cover that looked
similar to sewing machine covers of the 1930s. It was latched to the radio
transmitter by four rusty latches. There was so much dust on the outside that
we had to wash it with a sponge and a bucket of water to clean it off, which
revealed the gold-colored decal of the Nazi eagle with a swastika in its
talons.

2)  The discovery occurred in 1975. We were cleaning out the house,
installing plaster patches to the walls, and had moved to the boiler room
basement. About 25-feet back, under the 36-inch high crawl space, and on a
dirt surface, was a stack of newspapers about 30-inches high. Although there
was nothing else under the crawlspace, we just thought it was junk. Mac
MacReynolds had to crawl on his hand and knees to the pile. Later, he
determined all the newspapers dated to 1945.

3)  The first 8-10-inch pile of newspapers revealed an airspace behind the
newspapers. I recall just a dark hole at the time. Mac dragged the newspapers
back to the boiler room to get a better look. In the dim light, we saw the
newspapers all dated to 1945. It was then that we looked back toward the rest
of the pile and saw the radio.

4) Once we saw the Nazi decal, we carefully pried the latches off to reveal
the transmitter radio under the cover. It too was dusty. I recall the
bakelite knobs, dials, and German writing on the labels. Mac took the radio
inside his house. Five years later, he and his wife moved out of town and
took the radio with them. I have not seen them since 1980 or 1981.

5)  We returned to the boiler room and crawlspace and carefully examined the
walls. At one point on the wall, we found a corroded copper wire and traced
it up to the walls. In the crawl space above the first floor, we found the
wire led up through the walls of the second floor. Again, we found the wire
in the attic above the second floor we found the wire let to a hole near the
gable and outside. Going out a window, we traced the wire to the top of the
gable on the west side of the house where it terminated. This gabled window
would not be visible from surrounding houses or the street below. Looking
from that gable, we had a clear view of the Pacific Ocean, just a few blocks
away.

6)  The house is on a residential street at the top of a steep natural hill
and the windows command a view of the Pacific Ocean. The house is about a
mile south of U.S. Army Fort Rosecrans and U.S. Navy Fleet Industrial Supply
and the Small Craft Base, which was the major supply point for shipping out
of San Diego during World War II. Fort Rosecrans also had the world's most
advanced scientific research facilities for sonar and other major
advancements that helped win World War II. Catalina Street (now Cabrillo
Memorial Drive) runs straight through Fort Rosecrans and would be accessible
to any civilian.

7) Around 1981, the Council on America's Military Past published an issue of
the Heliograme which contained an oral history from a Japanese spy who
admitted walking around U.S. Army Fort Rosecrans drawing sketches and taking
notes to be transmitted to Japan. He did not say how this was to be
accomplished.

8)  A U.S. Government War Department report written in 1945, outlined the
defense of San Diego Harbor. That document indicated there were 65 reports of
foreign submarines off Point Loma (in view of the house in question), but
none were confirmed or sunk by anti-submarine warfare units dispatched to the
scene. This suggests submarine could have surfaced to receive messages.

All this information led me to mention the incident to HISTARCH last week. I
did so because someone reported finding a brass plaque with a swastika in a
fence post and the radio incident seemed relevant.

Personally, I have always found this a fascinating array of facts. I did see
the radio and the swastika decal, so you must overcome your skepticism on
that fact.

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.