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Bob Leffert N7RRR  EP2AT   SK

It is with regrets that I announce the death of my friend and past PARC member Bob
Leffert. Bob died about 2 weeks ago.  Bob and his wife Betty moved here in
~1998, I met him by accident answering a newspaper ad for a used refrigerator. 
While at his house we stumbled on the fact we were both hams. I was and will
always be proud to call Bob my friend.

Bob was a true ham, he loved to talk on his radio and work the
world.   He didn't have much of an antenna setup, just a 25 foot pipe
lashed to his chimney with a 3 element tri-bander, he had a Kenwood TS-440  a 100
watt radio,  but there by the rig was a map of the world with more pins
stuck in it than one could imagine. In short order, he worked DXCC , WAS, and a
pile of other awards. Like I said, he loved amateur radio.  

Bob was at Pearl Harbor the day the Japanese attacked, eventually became a B-29 Navigator.
On one of his first missions his crew went down in the Indian Ocean,
after a few days floating  around in two rubber rafts, the they were rescued. He was
in the last, or the next to the last,  B-29 that actually dropped bombs on
Japan.  They were leaving JA airspace when the word came over the radio,
the war was over, " if you have bombs left, don't drop them". 
Bob was there the day WWII started , and he was there the day it ended.
You can't say that about many people.  He made the military his career, being stationed in
places like Turkey and Iran, Bob got a lot of hamming done on the other end of the
pile-up.

73 good friend

added note:  Bob was a great friend of mine (k0ip)  he had so many stories,  and lots to talk about,
  
maybe  2 or 3 times a week for many months ,   I would go to his house,
he and I would have two (each) Martini's  which he would make.
he would smoke the second half of a cigarette  he had saved from the morning break..  
he  gave his two cats some  treats , and just set and talked about HamRadio and the olden days.
Really it was a great time even if I'm not particular to Martini's,,        A really great friend
He is buried in  Fort Snelling National Cemetery  in St Paul, MN

  73 good friend you were a real ham and a great friend, ,,