Local veteran surprised with special medal ceremony
by Lindsay Hoeppner · November 10, 2009

For most World War II veterans, 1945 is reflected upon as a year of celebration, as the global military conflict ended and the United States emerged as a world superpower.

Jim Anderson feels no different.

A native of West Branch, Anderson enlisted in the Navy as soon as he turned 18 in 1945.

“I was just doing what every other boy my age did,” he said. “I chose the Navy because I knew I’d always have a place to sleep at night without having to dig a foxhole.”

Anderson didn’t have to wait long to serve his country.

After attending a 16-week school in Gulfport, Miss., where he was trained to receive and transmit blinker code signals and use signal flags, Anderson was deployed to Leyte, a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region.

When Anderson’s troop arrived in Leyte, the island had been under Japanese rule for four years.

“They were very happy to see us,” Anderson said. “The cities had all been bombed and the natives were living in shacks on the outskirts of the city.”

During the 11 months Anderson was in the Philippines, he was aboard an LCT (Landing Craft Tank), which carried significant quantities of vehicles, cargo and landing troops directly onto the shore.

Anderson was a quartermaster — an enlisted member in charge of the watch-to-watch navigation and the maintenance, correction and preparation of nautical charts and navigation publications — but mostly was assigned to signal duty.

“We were preparing for the invasion of Japan,” he said. “Luckily, we never had to face that.”

After the war ended, Anderson began the long nautical journey back to Iowa.

“When we came back, we knew we were going to cross under the Golden Gate Bridge early in the morning,” he said. “It was just getting to be daylight and there was a ‘welcome home’ sign off in the distance that looked like the Hollywood Sign. We could see it from miles away. It was very emotional.”

Anderson didn’t stay in the Navy after the war, but has been a member of American Legion Post 514 in West Branch for 63 years.

As Anderson has always had a sense of pride for serving his country during WWII, he didn’t think that feeling could ever be topped.

He was wrong.

On Friday, Oct. 23, Anderson accompanied family members to Hawkeye Pizza & Steak House for what he thought was an evening meal.

“I just thought we were going out for pizza,” he said.

Not quite.

Prior to the family get-together, Anderson’s oldest son, Tom, who lives in Gardena, Calif., became very interested in his father’s tour of duty.

“He had called me and was asking me about my service details,” Anderson said. “I just thought he was interested.”

Anderson soon found out Tom was more than just interested.

What began as a pizza outing soon turned into something much more meaningful.

With the help and research of Tom, Andy Carter, a Navy Reserve officer from West Liberty, presented Anderson with the four medals he received while in WWII.

“It was a very emotional time,” Anderson said. “I almost cried.”

Anderson already had the ribbons he received during the war, but not the medals, which he said can only be obtained by applying for them.

Displayed prominently in a shadow box with a folded American flag, Anderson now has a Philippine Liberation Medal, an Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, a World War II Victory Medal and an American Campaign Medal.

“It was all such a surprise,” Anderson said. “I never thought I’d see those medals again.”