"A few days before his death, former paratrooper and U.S. Army Captain Barton "Black Bart" Patrick Chambers promised his beloved wife Susan he would stick around long enough to kiss her on their upcoming wedding anniversary.
He kept his word, making his final jump early in the evening of the 27th of July.
Bart was the first of two children from the marriage of Barbara Barton Chambers and John Harlan Chambers, and was born 10 May, 1939, at Ft. Screven, GA. His sister Beatrice was born four years later.
A warrior born to warriors, Bart and his father were both West Point graduates. Bart's was the class of 1961. After West Point, Bart attended Officer's Artillery and Jump School courses, serving at Ft. Sill, OK, Ft. Bliss, TX, and Ft. Benning, GA. Next he was shipped overseas to West Germany, to serve with the 81st Airborne at Erlangen and Wiesbaden. After his tour in Germany he returned to Fort Sill, where, in 1966, he was severely injured in an auto accident. Due to his disabilities, he was Honorably Discharged in 1967.
Two years later, Bart went to work for the government as a civilian undercover agent in Vietnam. At the time, aiming to debilitate U.S. troops fighting in Vietnam, the Vietcong was heavily involved in the drug trade. By any perspective, at the time Bart's was one of the most dangerous jobs one could have, in one of the worlds most dangerous places.
Bart's Vietnam adventure ended when he was shot five times by someone he trusted. That he survived the ordeal was a miracle, and he carried one of the bullets in his abdomen the rest of this life.
His hard-charging military and intelligence work had come to an irrevocable end. Shipped back to the States, he recovered and eventually found work as an engineer with a Washington DC construction firm.
If you assumed this adventurer was a macho-man with little depth, you'd be wrong. As a son, a brother, a husband, and a friend, you couldn't find a warmer, more loyal, more consistent and more generous character. He was well educated and a voracious reader. During his later years, one of his favorite pastimes was to sit in his living room reading poetry while stroking Waldo the cat, who lay across his lap.
Bart was spiritual, not religious, and he loved life, the outdoors, and nature. Although it paid well, his engineering job didn't satisfy; in 1978 he found the job that he loved for some twenty two years - at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. In keeping with his keen concern for nature and conservation, Bart worked at Coastal Zone Management, involving marine biology and the ecology.
His entire working career was spent on behalf of the country and land that he loved. Retiring in 1999, he took residence in Pensacola where he romanced and married the lovely Susan Orcutt-Roberts, 27, July, 2001. Later that year, Bart's sister Beatrice passed away.
Bart is survived by his loving wife Susan, her daughter Danielle and husband Jeff Koehler and their sons Jaxen and Tysen, whom "Papa Bart" treasured; and by the many paratrooper reunions across the country, where he and his friends could visit and jump together once more, for the sheer fun of it.
Bart's family and friends will privately celebrate his remarkable life at Rodizio Grill, 605 E. Gregory Street, Pensacola, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM, on 23 August. No flowers, please. Bart was a strong supporter of Doctors Without Borders. Many thanks also for the wonderful cancer treatment provided Bart over several years, by Dr. Thomas Tan, of The Woodlands
Geronimo Bart, happy landings!!"
ETA: from the Pensacola News Journal
