John D. Anderson, BM2c, name was added to the list of Survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack when his ashes were interred in the sunken USS Arizona in Hawaii. Anderson, who died in November of last year at the age of 98, was a Seaman, First Class, aboard the Arizona when the attack happened. John's twin brother, Delbert Jake Anderson, was also aboard the USS Arizona and died there on Dec 7, 1941.
As of 2017, there are 42 other members of the USS Arizona who also have had their ashes interred in the sunken battleship.
Anderson was well-known in his adopted home of Roswell, where he made a name for himself — the name Cactus Jack, to be precise — as a radio disc jockey (he met a young Elvis Presley before the singer was famous) and, later, as a television meteorologist.
He would talk about his experiences at Pearl Harbor over the years, sharing the pain and horror of that morning, the anger he felt as he realized what was happening, the grief of losing his brother. But he kept some of it to himself and was uncomfortable at the suggestion he was a hero. On the morning of the attack, John Anderson was eating breakfast below deck when he heard the first explosion.
He headed for his post and began to look for his brother. He searched, helping injured crewmen along the way. Finally, as the ship sunk farther into the harbor, a senior officer shoved Anderson into a boat, which took him to Ford Island. Once there, he found another boat and returned to the Arizona, determined not to abandon Jake.
He never found his brother, but would later learn that Jake almost certainly perished in the early moments of the attack.
Almost immediately, Anderson joined another ship, the destroyer McDonough, and fought battles across the Pacific until he was discharged in 1945. As he pondered his future, he landed a gig as a movie stuntman, hanging out with actors like Orson Welles and John Wayne. At night, he took classes in meteorology, but soon, an old buddy talked him into rejoining the Navy as a reservist.
He remembered his buddy's passion about signing up again. "He said, 'Andy, you had 12 years of the d...est fighting I ever saw. You’re the bravest man I've ever known. You can’t leave the Navy,' "
He would serve another 23 years.
In New Mexico, he got a job on the radio, playing mostly country music as "Cactus Jack." Listeners loved him. Later, he joined a local television station as its meteorologist.
Anderson returned to Pearl Harbor several times over the years and met other survivors, sharing stories, casting friendships. He could put the attack in the context of history with eloquence:
“It was a bloody catastrophe, a bloody mess,” he would say. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget what I saw that day."
But he always came back to his greatest loss. His brother Jake.
∼John Anderson (1917-2015)
John Anderson was one of only 355 men who survived the sinking of the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941.
In November, John Anderson, the oldest living survivor of the USS Arizona, passed away Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015, at the age of 98.
From The Albuquerque Journal, December 7, 2014.
"Anderson had just set up pews for a church service on deck that Sunday morning and was sitting down to breakfast in the mess hall when he heard an explosion. He poked through the hatch, looked up and saw Japanese planes dipping through the air.
"I said a cuss word and said, 'The Japanese are here,'" Anderson recounted in a 2011 interview. "We already knew this was going to happen sometime, but they're here."
He was a gunner and got into his seat, manned and ready, until he realized it was planes and machine gunfire and what was needed was back-up gunners on the anti-aircraft batteries.
John Anderson, 24 years old when he survived the Pearl Harbor attack, would serve 35 years in the Navy. (Courtesy of John Anderson's Family)
"If those guys are dead," he remembers telling a fellow sailor, "who's going to defend us from those planes up there?"
Anderson's twin brother, Jake, was an anti-aircraft gun captain on the same ship. Wanting to help his brother, Anderson climbed a ladder to the top deck but was rocked by "an enormous explosion."
"People were just blown all over the place," he said. "There were all kinds of body parts. Everybody was trying to salvage somebody."
The Japanese had sent a first wave of 180 aircraft, including torpedo planes, high-level bombers, dive bombers and fighters, according to the Navy's online history of the raid. A second wave of similar size would follow.
Anderson was pulled onto an escape boat but, seeing the Arizona in flames, he decided to make another run to find his twin and save who he could. He and another sailor jumped into the water, swam to a small craft floating nearby and headed back to the Arizona.
"I climbed aboard while the ship was sinking," he told the Journal. "I went through the mud and blood to find guys. They were all crisped with the fire."
Anderson would pull three badly burned sailors from the ship before shells struck the small craft, killing the men and throwing Anderson into the water.
The sea, slick with oil, was in flames.
Yet Anderson made it to shore. Burned, left only in his shorts and with a concussion from the explosions, he faced another onslaught of gunfire as a second wave of Japanese planes swooped in and peppered the beach.
Anderson got up and ran towards a runway where, in a stroke of good fortune, he found a Springfield rifle hanging from a tree with two bandoliers of ammunition, about 215 rounds. He said to himself, "'I'm gonna be able to do some good.'"
He found a bomb hole in the tarmac and bunkered down for the night."
"At Pearl Harbor, the sunken Arizona still holds the bodies of more than 900 of about 1,177 men who died on the battleship."
According to Major Jim Geiser (#48261393), "According to the Arizona Republic newspaper, John's remains have been interred within the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor."
As of 2017, there are 42 other members of the USS Arizona who also have had their ashes interred in the sunken battleship.
Anderson was well-known in his adopted home of Roswell, where he made a name for himself — the name Cactus Jack, to be precise — as a radio disc jockey (he met a young Elvis Presley before the singer was famous) and, later, as a television meteorologist.
He would talk about his experiences at Pearl Harbor over the years, sharing the pain and horror of that morning, the anger he felt as he realized what was happening, the grief of losing his brother. But he kept some of it to himself and was uncomfortable at the suggestion he was a hero. On the morning of the attack, John Anderson was eating breakfast below deck when he heard the first explosion.
He headed for his post and began to look for his brother. He searched, helping injured crewmen along the way. Finally, as the ship sunk farther into the harbor, a senior officer shoved Anderson into a boat, which took him to Ford Island. Once there, he found another boat and returned to the Arizona, determined not to abandon Jake.
He never found his brother, but would later learn that Jake almost certainly perished in the early moments of the attack.
Almost immediately, Anderson joined another ship, the destroyer McDonough, and fought battles across the Pacific until he was discharged in 1945. As he pondered his future, he landed a gig as a movie stuntman, hanging out with actors like Orson Welles and John Wayne. At night, he took classes in meteorology, but soon, an old buddy talked him into rejoining the Navy as a reservist.
He remembered his buddy's passion about signing up again. "He said, 'Andy, you had 12 years of the d...est fighting I ever saw. You’re the bravest man I've ever known. You can’t leave the Navy,' "
He would serve another 23 years.
In New Mexico, he got a job on the radio, playing mostly country music as "Cactus Jack." Listeners loved him. Later, he joined a local television station as its meteorologist.
Anderson returned to Pearl Harbor several times over the years and met other survivors, sharing stories, casting friendships. He could put the attack in the context of history with eloquence:
“It was a bloody catastrophe, a bloody mess,” he would say. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget what I saw that day."
But he always came back to his greatest loss. His brother Jake.
∼John Anderson (1917-2015)
John Anderson was one of only 355 men who survived the sinking of the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941.
In November, John Anderson, the oldest living survivor of the USS Arizona, passed away Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015, at the age of 98.
From The Albuquerque Journal, December 7, 2014.
"Anderson had just set up pews for a church service on deck that Sunday morning and was sitting down to breakfast in the mess hall when he heard an explosion. He poked through the hatch, looked up and saw Japanese planes dipping through the air.
"I said a cuss word and said, 'The Japanese are here,'" Anderson recounted in a 2011 interview. "We already knew this was going to happen sometime, but they're here."
He was a gunner and got into his seat, manned and ready, until he realized it was planes and machine gunfire and what was needed was back-up gunners on the anti-aircraft batteries.
John Anderson, 24 years old when he survived the Pearl Harbor attack, would serve 35 years in the Navy. (Courtesy of John Anderson's Family)
"If those guys are dead," he remembers telling a fellow sailor, "who's going to defend us from those planes up there?"
Anderson's twin brother, Jake, was an anti-aircraft gun captain on the same ship. Wanting to help his brother, Anderson climbed a ladder to the top deck but was rocked by "an enormous explosion."
"People were just blown all over the place," he said. "There were all kinds of body parts. Everybody was trying to salvage somebody."
The Japanese had sent a first wave of 180 aircraft, including torpedo planes, high-level bombers, dive bombers and fighters, according to the Navy's online history of the raid. A second wave of similar size would follow.
Anderson was pulled onto an escape boat but, seeing the Arizona in flames, he decided to make another run to find his twin and save who he could. He and another sailor jumped into the water, swam to a small craft floating nearby and headed back to the Arizona.
"I climbed aboard while the ship was sinking," he told the Journal. "I went through the mud and blood to find guys. They were all crisped with the fire."
Anderson would pull three badly burned sailors from the ship before shells struck the small craft, killing the men and throwing Anderson into the water.
The sea, slick with oil, was in flames.
Yet Anderson made it to shore. Burned, left only in his shorts and with a concussion from the explosions, he faced another onslaught of gunfire as a second wave of Japanese planes swooped in and peppered the beach.
Anderson got up and ran towards a runway where, in a stroke of good fortune, he found a Springfield rifle hanging from a tree with two bandoliers of ammunition, about 215 rounds. He said to himself, "'I'm gonna be able to do some good.'"
He found a bomb hole in the tarmac and bunkered down for the night."
"At Pearl Harbor, the sunken Arizona still holds the bodies of more than 900 of about 1,177 men who died on the battleship."
According to Major Jim Geiser (#48261393), "According to the Arizona Republic newspaper, John's remains have been interred within the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor."
John D. Anderson, BM2c, name was added to the list of Survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack when his ashes were interred in the sunken USS Arizona in Hawaii. Anderson, who died in November of last year at the age of 98, was a Seaman, First Class, aboard the Arizona when the attack happened. John's twin brother, Delbert Jake Anderson, was also aboard the USS Arizona and died there on Dec 7, 1941.
As of 2017, there are 42 other members of the USS Arizona who also have had their ashes interred in the sunken battleship.
Anderson was well-known in his adopted home of Roswell, where he made a name for himself — the name Cactus Jack, to be precise — as a radio disc jockey (he met a young Elvis Presley before the singer was famous) and, later, as a television meteorologist.
He would talk about his experiences at Pearl Harbor over the years, sharing the pain and horror of that morning, the anger he felt as he realized what was happening, the grief of losing his brother. But he kept some of it to himself and was uncomfortable at the suggestion he was a hero. On the morning of the attack, John Anderson was eating breakfast below deck when he heard the first explosion.
He headed for his post and began to look for his brother. He searched, helping injured crewmen along the way. Finally, as the ship sunk farther into the harbor, a senior officer shoved Anderson into a boat, which took him to Ford Island. Once there, he found another boat and returned to the Arizona, determined not to abandon Jake.
He never found his brother, but would later learn that Jake almost certainly perished in the early moments of the attack.
Almost immediately, Anderson joined another ship, the destroyer McDonough, and fought battles across the Pacific until he was discharged in 1945. As he pondered his future, he landed a gig as a movie stuntman, hanging out with actors like Orson Welles and John Wayne. At night, he took classes in meteorology, but soon, an old buddy talked him into rejoining the Navy as a reservist.
He remembered his buddy's passion about signing up again. "He said, 'Andy, you had 12 years of the d...est fighting I ever saw. You’re the bravest man I've ever known. You can’t leave the Navy,' "
He would serve another 23 years.
In New Mexico, he got a job on the radio, playing mostly country music as "Cactus Jack." Listeners loved him. Later, he joined a local television station as its meteorologist.
Anderson returned to Pearl Harbor several times over the years and met other survivors, sharing stories, casting friendships. He could put the attack in the context of history with eloquence:
“It was a bloody catastrophe, a bloody mess,” he would say. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget what I saw that day."
But he always came back to his greatest loss. His brother Jake.
∼John Anderson (1917-2015)
John Anderson was one of only 355 men who survived the sinking of the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941.
In November, John Anderson, the oldest living survivor of the USS Arizona, passed away Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015, at the age of 98.
From The Albuquerque Journal, December 7, 2014.
"Anderson had just set up pews for a church service on deck that Sunday morning and was sitting down to breakfast in the mess hall when he heard an explosion. He poked through the hatch, looked up and saw Japanese planes dipping through the air.
"I said a cuss word and said, 'The Japanese are here,'" Anderson recounted in a 2011 interview. "We already knew this was going to happen sometime, but they're here."
He was a gunner and got into his seat, manned and ready, until he realized it was planes and machine gunfire and what was needed was back-up gunners on the anti-aircraft batteries.
John Anderson, 24 years old when he survived the Pearl Harbor attack, would serve 35 years in the Navy. (Courtesy of John Anderson's Family)
"If those guys are dead," he remembers telling a fellow sailor, "who's going to defend us from those planes up there?"
Anderson's twin brother, Jake, was an anti-aircraft gun captain on the same ship. Wanting to help his brother, Anderson climbed a ladder to the top deck but was rocked by "an enormous explosion."
"People were just blown all over the place," he said. "There were all kinds of body parts. Everybody was trying to salvage somebody."
The Japanese had sent a first wave of 180 aircraft, including torpedo planes, high-level bombers, dive bombers and fighters, according to the Navy's online history of the raid. A second wave of similar size would follow.
Anderson was pulled onto an escape boat but, seeing the Arizona in flames, he decided to make another run to find his twin and save who he could. He and another sailor jumped into the water, swam to a small craft floating nearby and headed back to the Arizona.
"I climbed aboard while the ship was sinking," he told the Journal. "I went through the mud and blood to find guys. They were all crisped with the fire."
Anderson would pull three badly burned sailors from the ship before shells struck the small craft, killing the men and throwing Anderson into the water.
The sea, slick with oil, was in flames.
Yet Anderson made it to shore. Burned, left only in his shorts and with a concussion from the explosions, he faced another onslaught of gunfire as a second wave of Japanese planes swooped in and peppered the beach.
Anderson got up and ran towards a runway where, in a stroke of good fortune, he found a Springfield rifle hanging from a tree with two bandoliers of ammunition, about 215 rounds. He said to himself, "'I'm gonna be able to do some good.'"
He found a bomb hole in the tarmac and bunkered down for the night."
"At Pearl Harbor, the sunken Arizona still holds the bodies of more than 900 of about 1,177 men who died on the battleship."
According to Major Jim Geiser (#48261393), "According to the Arizona Republic newspaper, John's remains have been interred within the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor."
As of 2017, there are 42 other members of the USS Arizona who also have had their ashes interred in the sunken battleship.
Anderson was well-known in his adopted home of Roswell, where he made a name for himself — the name Cactus Jack, to be precise — as a radio disc jockey (he met a young Elvis Presley before the singer was famous) and, later, as a television meteorologist.
He would talk about his experiences at Pearl Harbor over the years, sharing the pain and horror of that morning, the anger he felt as he realized what was happening, the grief of losing his brother. But he kept some of it to himself and was uncomfortable at the suggestion he was a hero. On the morning of the attack, John Anderson was eating breakfast below deck when he heard the first explosion.
He headed for his post and began to look for his brother. He searched, helping injured crewmen along the way. Finally, as the ship sunk farther into the harbor, a senior officer shoved Anderson into a boat, which took him to Ford Island. Once there, he found another boat and returned to the Arizona, determined not to abandon Jake.
He never found his brother, but would later learn that Jake almost certainly perished in the early moments of the attack.
Almost immediately, Anderson joined another ship, the destroyer McDonough, and fought battles across the Pacific until he was discharged in 1945. As he pondered his future, he landed a gig as a movie stuntman, hanging out with actors like Orson Welles and John Wayne. At night, he took classes in meteorology, but soon, an old buddy talked him into rejoining the Navy as a reservist.
He remembered his buddy's passion about signing up again. "He said, 'Andy, you had 12 years of the d...est fighting I ever saw. You’re the bravest man I've ever known. You can’t leave the Navy,' "
He would serve another 23 years.
In New Mexico, he got a job on the radio, playing mostly country music as "Cactus Jack." Listeners loved him. Later, he joined a local television station as its meteorologist.
Anderson returned to Pearl Harbor several times over the years and met other survivors, sharing stories, casting friendships. He could put the attack in the context of history with eloquence:
“It was a bloody catastrophe, a bloody mess,” he would say. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget what I saw that day."
But he always came back to his greatest loss. His brother Jake.
∼John Anderson (1917-2015)
John Anderson was one of only 355 men who survived the sinking of the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941.
In November, John Anderson, the oldest living survivor of the USS Arizona, passed away Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015, at the age of 98.
From The Albuquerque Journal, December 7, 2014.
"Anderson had just set up pews for a church service on deck that Sunday morning and was sitting down to breakfast in the mess hall when he heard an explosion. He poked through the hatch, looked up and saw Japanese planes dipping through the air.
"I said a cuss word and said, 'The Japanese are here,'" Anderson recounted in a 2011 interview. "We already knew this was going to happen sometime, but they're here."
He was a gunner and got into his seat, manned and ready, until he realized it was planes and machine gunfire and what was needed was back-up gunners on the anti-aircraft batteries.
John Anderson, 24 years old when he survived the Pearl Harbor attack, would serve 35 years in the Navy. (Courtesy of John Anderson's Family)
"If those guys are dead," he remembers telling a fellow sailor, "who's going to defend us from those planes up there?"
Anderson's twin brother, Jake, was an anti-aircraft gun captain on the same ship. Wanting to help his brother, Anderson climbed a ladder to the top deck but was rocked by "an enormous explosion."
"People were just blown all over the place," he said. "There were all kinds of body parts. Everybody was trying to salvage somebody."
The Japanese had sent a first wave of 180 aircraft, including torpedo planes, high-level bombers, dive bombers and fighters, according to the Navy's online history of the raid. A second wave of similar size would follow.
Anderson was pulled onto an escape boat but, seeing the Arizona in flames, he decided to make another run to find his twin and save who he could. He and another sailor jumped into the water, swam to a small craft floating nearby and headed back to the Arizona.
"I climbed aboard while the ship was sinking," he told the Journal. "I went through the mud and blood to find guys. They were all crisped with the fire."
Anderson would pull three badly burned sailors from the ship before shells struck the small craft, killing the men and throwing Anderson into the water.
The sea, slick with oil, was in flames.
Yet Anderson made it to shore. Burned, left only in his shorts and with a concussion from the explosions, he faced another onslaught of gunfire as a second wave of Japanese planes swooped in and peppered the beach.
Anderson got up and ran towards a runway where, in a stroke of good fortune, he found a Springfield rifle hanging from a tree with two bandoliers of ammunition, about 215 rounds. He said to himself, "'I'm gonna be able to do some good.'"
He found a bomb hole in the tarmac and bunkered down for the night."
"At Pearl Harbor, the sunken Arizona still holds the bodies of more than 900 of about 1,177 men who died on the battleship."
According to Major Jim Geiser (#48261393), "According to the Arizona Republic newspaper, John's remains have been interred within the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor."
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