Robert E. Brumm

Lt. Col. Robert E. Brumm passed away Jan. 31, 2011 at the age of 86.

Bob was born in Kansas City, Mo. on Feb. 18, 1924 and lived there until moving to St. Joseph, Mo. in 1933. He graduated high school and attended junior college until his enlistment in the U.S. Army Air Force as aviation cadet in December 1942.

After commissioning as second lieutenant and rated pilot, he entered?B-25 combat crew training. He and his crew ferried a B25J twin-engine bomber via South America, Ascension Island and north along the coast of Africa toward Naples, Italy. Unfortunately, a malfunction in the landing-gear system forced him to belly-land the aircraft in Marrakesch, French Morocco. He and his crew were then transported to the 340th Bomb Group on the island of Corsica and flew bombing missions into northern Italy, the Brenner Pass and southern Germany until the end of WWII.

Upon return to the States, he was assigned to various bases in California, Utah, Texas and Louisiana. While stationed in Santa Ana, Calif., he married Ruth Shafer in 1946. After a lengthy marriage, they later divorced.

During a tour in El Paso, Texas in 1949, he flew the B-45, the first four-engine operational jet bomber in the Air Force. After injury in an accident (mechanical failure) in the B-45 in 1953, he was hospitalized for nine months and grounded from further flying.

After release from the hospital, he was stationed in Los Angeles in an administrative position for two years, but he was finally able to return to flight status and assigned to duty as a flight test-pilot, performing flight acceptance tests on more than 1,700 Navy, Army and Air Force aircraft that had been overhauled at civilian aircraft maintenance facilities in Southern California and later in Nashville, Tenn.

In 1960, he was transferred to an aircraft-overhaul factory in Madrid, Spain, and in 1961, was appointed chief of an Air Force office at Fiat Corporation in Torino, Italy. This job included overseeing aircraft and component overhaul at factories awarded USAF contracts in Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Israel.

Returning to the U.S.A. in July, 1963, Col. Brumm was assigned to the Department of Defense with duty station in Boston, Mass. His office was responsible for the administration of all Department of Defense non-aviation military contracts in Upstate New York and all New England states. After four years in Boston, he volunteered for combat in Southeast Asia, and after training in Louisiana, he flew armed reconnaissance missions in A-26 aircraft over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and missions into northern Laos and North Vietnam.

During his combat tours in Europe and southeast Asia, Col. Brumm was awarded four distinguished flying crosses (two with V), 11 air medals, two Presidential Unit citations (one with V) and an Air Force Outstanding Unit Citation with V. Upon return to the States in 1968, he was assigned to Nellis AFB in Las Vegas as base procurement officer.

Bob married his wife Betty in June 1970 and retired from the Air Force in 1973. After retirement, Bob rehabilitated six condemned houses in St. Joseph, Mo. and then he and wife Betty returned to Las Vegas in 1975 where he spend 10 years buying and selling residential and commercial real estate. In 1980, Bob and Betty joined with five other parishioners in Las Vegas and successfully formed the Paradise Presbyterian Church (later named the Green Valley Presbyterian Church), which currently has a membership of more than 800 members.

He fully retired in 1985 because of health complications attributed to injuries incurred in the jet bomber accident in 1953. Bob and Betty moved to Astoria in 1988 to be near her son and his family. He served as an elder at the First Presbyterian Church in Astoria; was president of the Lower Columbia River Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America; and participated in Habitat for Humanity.

Bob is survived by his wife Betty; daughter Donna Scott of Crofton, MD., grandsons David and Greg Scott, great-grandson Noah and granddaughters Tyler and Clarisa Scott; daughter Kathy Hill and grandson Jesse and granddaughter Sara Hill-Breen and her husband Jeremy of Denver; son Robert and wife Terri in Harwood,?MD. and grandson Jason Brumm, his wife Sherri and great-grandson Alexander Reid Brumm of Park City, Utah.; and daughter Susan Smith, her husband Bob and grandsons Matthew and Dillon of Valdez, Alaska. Beloved extended family are stepson Steven Caruthers, his wife Anne, granddaughters Amber, Michelle and Venus Caruthers-Larson, and great-grandson Joseph, all of Svensen.

Visitation will be Monday, Feb. 7, 2011 from 3-6 p.m. at Caldwell's Luce-Layton Mortuary. Graveside services with military honors will be at Ft. Stevens Military Cemetery, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011 at 11 a.m. Memorial services will be Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011 at 2 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 1103 Grand Ave., Astoria. A reception will follow at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to The Salvation Army or Cancer Society, in care of Caldwell's Luce-Layton Mortuary, 1165 Franklin Ave., Astoria, OR 97103.