May 2, 1923 - January 10, 2019 Bert Kamps was born as the 3rd child of six to Egbert Kamps & Della Heun Kamps in Strasburg, North Dakota. He survived his siblings, Ethel, Clarence, Eddie, Helen & Margie, and his wife Hattie by 16 months, to whom he was married for 63 years. Bert was 95 1/2 years old when he died peacefully at his daughter’s home in Sequim, where he spent the last nine months of his life. He will now spend eternity in Heaven! Bert grew up in the prairies of North Dakota during the Depression. His family moved West in autumn of 1936, looking for work and a better life. They settled in Sumas, Washington. Bert graduated from Lynden High School in 1941. He worked for a short while as a riveter at Boeing in Seattle, then headed north to Alaska. His quest for adventure and to see the world had begun. He worked on a government survey crew in the Yukon Territory for the railroad that was never built. That government work excluded him from the draft, but after WWII began he wanted to serve his country and joined the Army Air Corp in 1942. Bert was trained as a B-29 Radar Observer in Bomber Crew 60, 73rd Wing, 499th Bomb Group, 879th Bomber Squadron. He flew 33 “official” missions from Saipan over Japan. On August 28, 1945 Bert flew his final “unofficial” mission after Japan had surrendered. Following his journal entry from that day, “We loaded a number of 50 gallon drums with food and clothing and hung them in our bomb racks. Parachutes were attached to the welded hooks. We flew low over Yawata until we saw the big “PW” on a roof. We buzzed it at tree top level, and suddenly everyone was outside – waving and jumping up and down. We climbed a little, swung back, and dropped the drums right over the barracks. A few of them went right through the roof. The chutes pulled the welded hooks off and the drums plummeted down like bombs. On our last trip we were very accurate! We buzzed the camp again. The men were clustered around the drums like children, deliriously waving and dancing. Someone was on the roof waving an American flag. It had been a long wait for them. We dipped our wings in salute, and headed back. Maybe some of the prisoners were captured flyers. We were one happy crew. What a wonderful way to end it all.” Bert kept a journal throughout the war and his great adventures. On April 20 and 26, 1945 during the 12+ hour flights from Tinian to Japan and back, there was no flak. He writes, “And sometimes, when you have nothing to do, you should try writing a poem. I know nothing about poetry, but here goes: Flak Alley” After Bert retired, he and Hattie visited a former crew member, William Royster, Bert shared his war journal with him and he turned Bert’s original Flak Alley poem into what is now in the International War Veterans Poetry Archives. When the war ended Bert returned to Lynden to visit his mother and sisters. He then moved to Seattle and attended the UW, taking a year off to explore South America. He graduated in 1950 with a Bachelor of Business Administration and lifelong friends who he met multiple times a year for over 50 years! After graduation, he headed for Sweden and a bicycle trip through Europe. In 1953 Bert went to Alaska to work, there he met Hattie Barr, whom he married in 1954 in Kelso, Washington. Bert earned a Masters of International Relations from USC in 1959. Bert and Hattie had four children, the two oldest daughters born in Alaska prior to statehood, eventually settling in Edmonds and then Richmond Beach where they lived in their home there for fifty years. Bert enjoyed travel, adventure, writing, folk dancing, skiing, hiking, fiddle music & horseback riding. Bert and Hattie believed in helping others and over the years volunteered at church, counseled prisoners at Monroe Correctional Complex, drove vans for Northwest Harvest, made pies on Thanksgiving for the the Union Gospel Mission, hosted women who needed temporary shelter. He is survived by his four children, Janet, Ronald, two other daughters, and six grandchildren, Hannah, Ben, Amelia, Peter, Rachel & Alexander. The family will hold a gravesite service at Monumenta on Saturday, January 19 at 11:00am including a VFW Honor Guard. A celebration of life will be held in Edmonds, WA at Faith Community Church on Sat. February 2, 2019 at 1pm.