Johnny Vander Meer & the Moonshot Journal

It was the box that caught my attention. A ‘Sentinel’ Junior Ace First Aid Kit box to be precise.

It jumped out from the rest of the paraphernalia on the flea market sellers cluttered tabletop, and I moved to have a closer look.

It was a simple tin box in design, but the logo emblazoned across it demanded to be noticed! It was a bold wing like insignia, topped with ‘SENTINEL’ written in bright red capital letters. In the centre, inside a framed circle was the figure of an airman, replete with goggles, and dressed ready to fly; presumably in the small red single prop airplane behind him. Junior Ace was ‘written’ underneath in an almost signature like font, while below it FIRST AID KIT, again in bold caps was stamped across the bottom.

I reached and picked it up. It was clearly old, and with a few scuffs and scratches, but nevertheless in good condition. I turned it around slowly viewing it from all sides. There was another insignia image of a plane on the front and back. This time it was of larger 4 prop aircraft. Judging from the design and the style of font my best guess would have put it around the 40’s or 50’s.

It was light, but for a box this size, I guessed not empty.

‘Mind if I open this’? , I asked the stallholder.

“Sure! Go ahead!” the man said.

The lid was hinged, and there was some resistance, but with a little pressure, it sprang open.

Inside I realised immediately the box contained a set of ‘bubblegum’ baseball picture cards. On top the beaming face of a player called Johnny Vander Meer smiled out .

Wow! What a find! As a Chicago Cubs fan from an early age, I could see from the his baseball cap with its single letter C that this was a Cubs player. But these were pretty old cards, probably from around the same era as the box I surmised, and although the name Johnny Vander Meer, rang a distant bell I wasn’t sure exactly why.

I took the card out and flipped it over. There it was on the back;

Johnny Vander Meer; Pitcher – Chicago Cubs

Height: 6ft

Weight: 190 lbs

Throws: Left

Bats: Right

The only pitcher in Major League Baseball history to throw two consecutive no hitters!

Awesome! In an instant my mind was made up;

I quickly closed the box, and trying not to let my excitement show asked the seller in a nonchalant tone;

‘How much you want for this?

The seller looked up, and glanced at the box. Closing one eye, he sucked in air between his teeth as he made his calculation.

“Well let see..I guess I could let you have it for $25.”

I did my my own facial contortion and air sucking. “How about $15?”

“Aww, c’mon man. Those are genuine Bubblegum cards . Gotta be worth at least 20 bucks, he drawled. You a Cubs fan? He asked, eyeing me through narrowed eyes.

“Yeah sure” I replied enthusiastically, Then realizing that same enthusiasm may only up the price, tried to play it down. “ I mean, yeah I kinda am. I just really like the box though.”

“Oh I see.’ The box?” The seller looked at more closely and picking it up, rotated it slowly as though considering it for the first time. “Sentinel’ Junior First Aid Kit..Hmmm. I’m guessin this maybe belonged to a Boy Scout”

“It’s not yours?” I asked.

“Hell no!” he exclaimed. “I mean, sure it’s mine! But it aint like I owned it back from my scoutin’ days. I do believe I picked this up at blind garage clearance a while back up in Wakaponeta, I think it was..”

I considered his statement for a moment;

“Ahh, I see. Well OK I guess I can stretch to $20..”

The seller continued to eye the box almost in a reverie before suddenly snapping to.

“You sure you’re a Cubs fan?”

“Well yeah I mean like I said I kinda follow them, but we ain’t exactly having the best run of luck lately.” It’s not looking good for the World series.

Hell that’s true! The seller laughed. More chance of me flyin’ to the moon! I guess you got my sympathy now. $20. Its a Deal!”

I handed over a $20 bill, and the seller passed the box over.

“There you go!” Thankyou for your custom Sir.

“Thankyou!” I said, and tossing the box into my daypack, headed home with a broad grin on my face.

Later, in my bedroom, I sat on my bed with the box in front of me, and once again pried open the lid.

I removed the cards slowly. Peeling them out one by one. All famous name players in their day no doubt. I spread them out in a fan shape.

First Base: Johnny Mize. ... Second Base: Joe Gordon. ... Third Base: Bob Elliott. ... Shortstop: Lou Boudreau. ... Left Field: Ted Williams. ... Center Field: Joe DiMaggio

Ahh yes. Joe DiMaggio, I recognized him, or at least the name. Didn’t he marry Marilyn Monroe?

Apart from him, though and of course Johnny Vander Meer, the rest were unknowns to me. Still, I reckoned that I could sell them individually on E-bay, and make a few dollars profit, and then get to keep the box which by itself was pretty cool.

I picked it up and held it again. Maybe I would use it for keeping my photo negatives, or super 8 film rolls. It was light tight that was for sure.

Then I noticed something strange. The box was empty, with all of the baseball cards now strewn out before me, and yet.. it weighed more than an empty tin box should.

I tapped the top and sides with my fingernail, and it gave out a distinctly hollow metallic tone, but when I did the same on the underside, only a dull sound returned.

I opened the box to examine the interior more closely; Just an empty box, nothing untoward, and yet..

I moved the box to look at in profile. It was approximately 2 inches high.

I looked again inside, and sure enough the depth was around 1 ½ inches. What the ..?

The box had a false bottom, no doubt about it.

I looked more closely. Whoever had created it had done a pretty good job, but on close inspection I could see that the metal bottom plate had a rougher, slightly tarnished finish to the main box. I pressed on it, and it gave slightly. There was something in the space below.

I ran to get my screwdriver set, and then got to work. With a little manipulation, I soon managed to pry and jemmy the bottom plate up, slowly at first, and then suddenly as it sprang free, and I could easily remove it.

And there underneath lay the mystery object. A small black notebook.

I took it out gently, opened it, and flicked through the pages.

It was clearly a journal. There were notes, sketches, mostly of airplanes, and of course diary entries. which seemed to mostly short and mostly be about flying, camping or scouting;

April 10 1946

First day at Easter camp (Witchita Camp). Pitched the tent early evening. Camp fire, and dinner. ( Steak & Potatoes cooked over the fire) Delicious! Beautiful sky tonight- a trillion stars.

June 12 1946

Kayaking On Indian State Lake. Finally managed to do an ‘eskimo roll’. ( Capsizing the canoe then righting it using the paddle.) Just need to complete orienteering now to get my Eagle Scout.

One entry in particular caught my attention

August 5 1946.

My birthday. 16 today, and I’m flying. Finally got my student flight cert! Instructor says I can go solo soon. Possibly next week..

Man I can’t wait to get up there on my own!

Below the entry was a sketch of a plane or rather 3 sketches of the same plane all at different points of looping the loop. Clearly this kid was crazy about flying and all things aviation. Who was he?

I flicked to the front cover and looked at the opening fly leaf page, and there it was in neat handwritten capital letters: This journal belongs to;

Neil Alden Armstrong

Epilogue:

1 year later..

The envelope bore the instantly recognizable hallmark of Sothebys, the most famous auction house in the world. I had been waiting for months and quickly ripped it open to read the letter inside:

Sothebys (New York)

July 20th 2016

Dear Sir. ref Journal Neil A. Armstrong

Thankyou for your recent valuation enquiry.

I am pleased to be able to inform you that our experts have now completed examination of the journal. This, and further research leads us to conclude that the journal is indeed the bona fide journal of the astronaut Neil Alden Armstrong.

Our initial valuation estimate for auction is $25000 (subject to our normal commission rate of 20%.)

Please let us know if you wish to proceed with the arrangements for sale.

Yours faithfully.

G. Avel.

Senior Valuations Officer –Contemporary Historical Documents