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Contact Info
Home Town Claremont, Virginia
Last Address Waverly, Virginia
Date of Passing Feb 10, 1998
Location of Interment Claremont Cemetery - Claremont, Virginia
Captain Anderson was born in Claremont, VA on September 22, 1914. He enlisted in the Navy in 1932 and was accepted to the Naval Academy in 1934. He graduated in the top 113 of his class in 1938. He received his gold Naval Aviator Wings in March 1941 and transitioned into the Douglas SBD. He reported aboard the USS Enterprise in May 1941. Enterprise participated in the Marshall Islands Raid. From June 4Ih to June 6 1942, the Enterprise, along with the carriers Hornet and Yorktown, fought the Battle of Midway. He served as a Section Leader of a bombing squadron aboard the Enterprise and for his actions was awarded the Navy Cross. He also received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts during the Battle of Midway. From August 1942 to January 1944, he served as a Chief Instructor for advanced carrier operations and Chief Flight Instructor at NAS Jacksonville and NAS Dayton Beach. From January 1944 to January 1945 he served aboard the USS Ticonderoga. He was the commanding officer of Bombing Squadron 80 and flew the SB2C. While serving on the USS Ticonderoga, he was severely injured in two Kamikaze attacks and received a Purple Heart as a result of these. In August 1949, he reported to the USS Midway as an Air Officer. In June 1955, he reported to the USS Forrestal where he served as the Executive Officer until July 1956. In August 1958 he was given his first command of a surface ship the USS Onslow, which was a seaplane tender. On June 6, 1961 he was given command of the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt and on July 1, 1968 he retired from the Navy after a 32-year career.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Luzon Campaign (1944-45)
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
April / 1945
Description On December 15, 1944, landings against minimal resistance were made on the southern beaches of the island of Mindoro, a key location in the planned Lingayen Gulf operations, in support of major landings scheduled on Luzon. On January 9, 1945, on the south shore of Lingayen Gulf on the western coast of Luzon, General Krueger's Sixth Army landed his first units. Almost 175,000 men followed across the twenty-mile (32 km) beachhead within a few days. With heavy air support, Army units pushed inland, taking Clark Field, 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Manila, in the last week of January.
Two more major landings followed, one to cut off the Bataan Peninsula, and another, that included a parachute drop, south of Manila. Pincers closed on the city and, on February 3, 1945, elements of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division pushed into the northern outskirts of Manila and the 8th Cavalry Regiment (organized as infantry) passed through the northern suburbs and into the city itself.
As the advance on Manila continued from the north and the south, the Bataan Peninsula was rapidly secured. On February 16, paratroopers and amphibious units simultaneously assaulted the islet of Corregidor. It was necessary to take this stronghold because troops there can block the entrance of Manila Bay. The Americans needed to establish a major harbor base at Manila Bay to support the expected invasion of Japan, planned to begin on November 1, 1945. Resistance on Corregidor ended on February 27, and then all resistance by the Japanese Empire ceased on August 15, 1945, obviating the need for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands.
Despite initial optimism, fighting in Manila was harsh. It took until March 3 to clear the city of all Japanese troops, and the Japanese Marines, who fought on stubbornly and refused to either surrender or to evacuate as the Japanese Army had done. Fort Drum, a fortified island in Manila Bay near Corregidor, held out until 13 April, when a team of Army troops went ashore and pumped 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the fort, then set off incendiary charges. No Japanese soldiers in Fort Drum survived the blast and fire.
In all, ten U.S. divisions and five independent regiments battled on Luzon, making it the largest American campaign of the Pacific war, involving more troops than the United States had used in North Africa, Italy, or southern France.