"Comes the first mission and it's Lubeck. All goes well as it should when I hear on the interphone, "someone down there is shooting at us!" I look up ahead and sure enough the sky is blossoming with the black bursts from the 88's. Now the moment of truth...there is no wavering or changing direction. We were doing what we came to do. I was doing "follow the leader" navigation and for the first mission it was an adventure. But when we turned at the IP and the lead ship fired the flare, it was evident we were on the bomb run and Lubeck was on the other side of that wall of flak. With time on my hands I was able to put down the tools of the trade and become an observer..."

Eugene G. "Gene" Gjertsen, 76, died Friday, November 12, 1999 at his Klamath Falls residence of complications from Parkinson's disease.

He was born in Minnesota to Gustav and Georgia (Ainsley) Gjertsen. When he was 6 years old, he moved with his family to Tacoma, Wash. After graduating from high school, he attended Washington State University until joining the Army Air Corps in 1942 during World War II. He was a navigator on B-24 bombers that flew 30 combat missions over Europe and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal and three Oak Leaf Clusters. He returned to Washington State University where he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1948. He married Barbara "Bebe" Cressey on Aug. 9, 1949. They moved to Longview, Wash., and he went to work for Weyerhaeuser Co. He served for 17 more months in the Air Force during the Korean War before being honorably discharged and resuming his career with Weyerhaueser until retiring in 1980. During that time he was promoted to plant engineer. He then started his own engineering consulting business. He served as chairman of the Apprenticeship Council and was on the Board of Directors of Friends of Collier Park, designing several of the exhibits at the logging museum there. He was a member of First Presbyterian Church, the Rotary Club and Reames Golf & Country Club and a lifetime member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Photography and computers were among his favorite hobbies. He also was an avid aviation buff.

Klamath Memorial Park
Klamath Falls
Klamath County
Oregon, USA