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Nicole Summers, MMFN
to remember
Anderson, Robert Harold, LT.
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Contact Info
Home Town Eau Clair, WI
Last Address Eau Clair, WI
Date of Passing Jun 06, 1945
Location of Interment Forest Hill Cemetery - Eau Claire, Wisconsin
LT Anderson died while on a training flight in Norfolk, VA.
Other Comments:
Name of Award
Navy Cross
Year Awarded
1944
Details behind Award:
Awarded for actions during the World War II
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Robert Harold Anderson (NSN: 0-106429), United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Bomber in Bombing Fighting Squadron EIGHTY (VBF-80), attached to the U.S.S. HANCOCK (CV19), while participating in an aerial flight against enemy forces on 14 December 1944, in the vicinity of the Philippine Islands. Lieutenant Anderson led a division of planes in an eight-plane formation and when an enemy formation of twenty-seven planes was encountered, he led the attack on the enemy formation despite the numerical odds and during the ensuing engagement shot down five enemy planes and probably shot down another enemy plane. When his wingman was under attack by an enemy plane and while he was almost out of ammunition, he dove on the enemy plane and forced the enemy plane to break off from the attack. His courage and skill were at all times inspiring and in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
General Orders: Commander 2d Carrier Task Force Pacific: Serial 0909 (January 13, 1945)
Action Date: December 14, 1944
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant
Company: Bombing Fighting Squadron 80 (VBF-80)
Division: U.S.S. Hancock (CV-19)
Name of Award
Distinguished Flying Cross
Devices
Year Awarded
1945
Details behind Award:
Awarded for actions during the World War II
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant Robert Harold Anderson (NSN: 0-106429), United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight in operations against the enemy shipping off the coast of Indo-China on 10 January 1945. Leading a division of carrier based fighter planes against an enemy convoy, he personally scored a direct 1,000-pound bomb hit on a large tanker causing it to explode and later sink. His courage, skill and leadership, coupled with complete disregard for his personal safety, were at all times in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Action Date: 10-Jan-45
Description The Battle of Arawe was fought between Allied and Japanese forces during the New Britain Campaign of World War II. The battle formed part of the Allied Operation Cartwheel, and had the objective of serving as a diversion before a larger landing at Cape Gloucester in late December 1943. The Japanese military was expecting an Allied offensive in western New Britain, and was reinforcing the region at the time of the Allied landing in the Arawe area on 15 December 1943. The Allies secured Arawe after about a month of intermittent fighting with the outnumbered Japanese force.
Initial Allied goals for the landing at Arawe included securing a base for American PT boats and diverting Japanese forces away from Cape Gloucester. The PT boat base was subsequently deemed unnecessary and was never built. Only a small Japanese force was stationed at Arawe at the time, although reinforcements were en route. The main Allied landing on 15 December was successful, despite a failed subsidiary landing and problems coordinating the landing craft. American forces quickly secured a beachhead and dug in. Japanese air units made large-scale raids against the Arawe area in the days after the landing, and in late December Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) troops unsuccessfully counterattacked the American force. In mid-January 1944 the American force, reinforced with additional infantry and tanks, launched a brief offensive that pushed the Japanese back. The Japanese units at Arawe withdrew from the area towards the end of February as part of a general retreat from western New Britain.
There is no consensus among historians on whether the Allied offensive at Arawe was necessary. While some have argued that the landing served as a useful diversion ahead of the Cape Gloucester operation, others believe that the entire campaign in western New Britain was unnecessary, and that the force employed at Arawe could have been better used elsewhere.