And he picked the Marines because he “wanted his own rifle,” he said with a quick hardy laugh.

After his time on Iwo Jima, Anderson arrived in Nagasaki, Japan a week after the atomic bomb was dropped.

“I saw that devastation,” he said. “It wasn’t really difficult for me to see at the time – I was younger then.”

Anderson was a part of an engineering construction battalion and helped open the roads to Nagasaki for the Army to come into the city. He said the Marines had lighter equipment, which made it easier for them to clear it.

His last stop before coming home was China. During his service time he acquired a Japanese saber, a Japanese rifle and Japanese ammunition.

“I just came home and carried on and picked up where I left off,” said Anderson about returning home to Chicago after his two years of service.

He continued to run his business and raise his son, who would later become a Marine. He now has one grandson, who was a Marine for 14 years, and three great-grandsons who live in Madison, Wis. Anderson moved to Manchester in 1972 because his son was living here at the time.

“I wanted to retire and get out of the city,” said Anderson.

Now he spends his time getting together with friends for coffee and gathering at the American Legion. He was, at one time, a member of the firing squad.

Anderson said the veterans at the legion will start telling stories every now and then but it’s not really something they talk about all the time.

“It’s past history,” he said about the World War II veterans. “It’s no big deal.”

Veterans Day area events
Veterans Day will be observed Saturday, Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. at the Delaware County Veterans Memorial. Conducting the service will be members of the American Legion Post 45, VFW Post 6637, the AMVETS and the combined auxiliaries of all the posts.

The firing squad and color guard members are asked to assemble at 10:30 a.m. at the memorial. The public is invited to attend.

In case of inclement weather, the service will be held at the American Legion post home at 206 North Franklin Street.

There will be a lunch after the service at the post.

Once known as Armistice Day, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed it in November 1919 by saying “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”

It signified the termination of World War I on the “11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month” in 1918.

Today, Veterans Day, as it became known in 1954, is a day set aside to remember all the members of the military who lost their lives in the wars and conflicts of the United States, as well as the living veterans who served their country.