[DZelenka]

I attended a gun club meeting and when the show and tell session began after the business meeting one of the members was showing some pistols he had brought. I believe his name was Don and he is a serious collector of WWII and earlier pistols. He began his presentation by describing that he kept his pistols in bank safety deposit boxes and that those boxes went underwater during Hurricane Katrina and some boxes had water in them for 8 weeks. The pistols that he brought included a 1920 DWM police luger, a 1939 S42 luger, CZ 38, Browning 1910/22, a couple of Mauser HScs and a Sauer. These were clearly beautiful guns that had been well cared for - true collector pieces. The condition they were in post Katrina was pretty rough. Finish was gone, grips ruined and in some cases significant pitting had occurred. Although he didn't say how many pistols he had, it seemed to be in excess of 100. Handling those few made me sick. I cannot possibly imagine how he feels and hope i never have to. The historical loss was significant.

Dan