Max Krogstad

1923 - 2015

Max (Reuben Stanley) Krogstad

Sep 7, 1923 - May 13, 2015

Max was born in Sletten Township, in northwestern Minnesota to Jens and Julia Krogstad. He worked as a radio station engineer at WTAQ in Green Bay before WWII took him to the China-Burma-India Theater (1943-1945) with the US Army Air Corp, first as radio operator flying the Hump on over 40 missions, then as tower chief at Allied airfields such as Dimapur, Chabua, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, and the glider assaults "Log Landing" in Burma. Before radar came into common use, the human ear was relied on at night to distinguish between returning Allied aircraft, and raiding Japanese planes; Max was legendary for his ability to identify each by its sound and to see at great distance.

After the war, Max earned a PhD in physics at WSC, worked for GE at Hanford, for Lockheed Missile Systems Division, Boeing Scientific Research Labs, and finished his career teaching physics and pre-engineering at South Seattle Community College. He recently moved to the Ballymena at The Kenney, in West Seattle.

With family at his side, Max peacefully slept into the night. He is survived by Elise, his wife of 62 years; children Heidi, Eirik, Roald, Marta, Finn, Christian; grandchildren, Tia, Alina and Konrad; and great-grandson Beckett. We would like to thank Bev Fletcher from Group Health Hospice for everything she has done for Max and for the family. We would also like to thank the staff at Group Health Hospice for their dedicated care in his final years, and Virginia Mason Hospital.

73, KC7WOF