. Both wound up on the Arizona, which at that moment on Dec. 7, 1941, was a maelstrom of fire, smoke and explosions. I want to do that for John, and Jake. I always wondered why I was spared and he wasn’t.’ He just felt like he let himself down, and Jake down as well as the rest of the family.”. He had pictures of a Chinese refugee column machine-gunned by the Japanese. Suddenly, he heard a loud explosion. He is the twin brother of sailor Tom Anderson.. (Photo courtesy of Anderson family), The USS Arizona (BB-39) burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. "People were blown all over the place, all kinds of body parts . As they did, the boat was hit and blown apart. I could just go on and on,” Travis Anderson said. All rights reserved. See our full terms of use “That left an impact on him. John Anderson was a boatswain’s mate second class and Jake was a boatswain’s mate first class. of the United States and its international position in the world . "Almost every aspect . He made it to his gun turret, but before he could help load it, a bomb hit the turret’s top, bounced off and penetrated the deck. . There, he gathered three wounded men into the boat. Packers Life. Birchwood Village uncovers a 'gem,' just in time for 100th anniversary. Seventy-five years later, the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor remains one of the most wrenching and intimate events in American history. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. I saved him. John Anderson is one of ESPN's most popular anchors who has made a successful career as a sports anchor. The Arizona went down, as did the battleship USS Oklahoma, entombing hundreds of sailors when it capsized. Being a popular sportscaster, John earns a satisfactory amount of salary from the network. As with the 9/11 terrorist attacks, or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, people remembered where they were when they heard the news. The turret captain gave him the okay. He was an actor, known for All My Children (1970), One Life to Live (1968) and Hombre (1967). Anderson later became a television meteorologist and a real estate agent. Anderson Cooper is opening up about co-parenting his child with an ex. There was no sign of Jake. One survivor recalled that the sky "rained sailors." John never found his brother. Many of the sailors, soldiers and Marines at Pearl Harbor were children of the Depression and the Dust Bowl who had joined the service to escape poverty and starvation. Since Brian Kenny 's departure to the MLB Network, he mostly appears on the 11pm-1am edition with John Buccigross and Kenny Mayne. The Arizona brothers were more than comrades in arms, more than mere shipmates. The 24-year-old brothers joined the Navy in 1936. “He told me a story about a man locked up on the Arizona. Another remembered dozens of Navy hats floating on the surface of the water. The cost of the attack was stunning: On the Arizona alone, 1,177 sailors and Marines were killed. . He was a first team … The records show my … Jake was among 1,177 sailors and Marines from the battleship who died, many of whom were entombed when the ship sank in minutes after a bomb touched off a massive explosion in one of the magazines. It had become very quiet and everybody had stopped eating and looked up at each other. Anderson has a journalism degree from the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri. "He just kept saying, 'I've got to find my brother, I've got to find my brother,' " his son recalled. (Kent Nishimura for The Washington Post), An undated photo of USS Arizona sailor Delbert “Jake” Anderson, who was killed on the Arizona and whose body was never recovered. Miller was decorated for valor, but was killed in the sinking of a ship he was on later in the war. The Arizona interment is one of two scheduled for Wednesday that, along with many other commemorations this week, will probably mark the last major anniversary of the attack attended by survivors. John Anderson (born 1965) is a sports journalist from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and a host of the ESPN TV program SportsCenter since June 1999. From left, Terry Anderson, Karolyn Anderson, Travis Anderson and John D. Anderson Jr. traveled to Hawaii, where John D. Anderson’s ashes are to be interred underwater in the remnants of his old turret aboard the USS Arizona. No additional details have been released about his death. And finally one day, I said, ‘John, you never really mention Jake, why is that?’ And he said. Both men were 24. "I'd like to get out there and get on a gun with my brother," he said. Christopher Stokowoski is Gloria's son with legendary conductor Leopold Stokowoski, and Anderson was very close with his half-brother, who was 15 … Pay attention to what you’re doing and do things right. And Jake really wanted him to get on the Arizona with him.". The sons of a judge, they were born in Verona, N.D., in 1917. He met Elvis Presley and Eddie Arnold in that job. Reaching Ford Island, in the middle of the harbor, he looked back at the Arizona. After the attack ended, he was assigned to another ship, became part of Navy raiding parties and fought his way across the Pacific – "in so many scrapes and fights that I forgot the names of the places.". Living near the famous NBC TV studios in Burbank, they would sneak in and watch various TV shows being taped. Wednesday afternoon, about 40 members of his family are scheduled to gather at the USS Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor as they return Anderson to what is left of turret No. ‘I always felt funny that I lived and he didn’t. With the exception of mom Nancy (née Carolan), a former math teacher, the Cusack clan is all show business: father Dick Cusack was an actor and filmmaker, and John's siblings Joan Cusack, Ann Cusack, Bill Cusack and Susie Cusack are all thespians by trade. Only five of the original 334 are left. Former Notre Dame defensive back Josh Atkinson died at the age of 25, his twin brother George III announced on social media. It produced the slogan, "Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition," uttered by Lt. (JG) Howell M. Forgy, a chaplain on the embattled cruiser USS New Orleans. Thirteen hundred more people died on other ships and elsewhere around the harbor. Now they had hot meals, a hammock to sleep in and a steady paycheck. John Edward Anderson OAM (born 24 July 1939) is an Australian sailor and Olympic champion. Bandages covered their arms, skin was scorched and hair was burned off. Carter is close and alive within me, as he was from the beginning, and as … Anderson Cooper is remembering his brother on the 31st anniversary of his death. 4 turret that morning, he realized the gigantic guns could do … "I said a cuss word and said, 'The Japanese are here,' " he remembered. John Anderson somehow survived the bloody mayhem of the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. "My brother's here someplace. when this blast shuddered by under the floor and rattled the cups on the tables. "He was from Greenfield, Ohio. "I was a gunner," he said. [Veteran finally lets himself remember Pearl Harbor]. They would never meet up that Sunday morning, and only one would survive the day. The attack would bring 9 million Americans into the war, and create the powerhouse United States of the 21st century, said historian Craig Nelson, author of "Pearl Harbor, From Infamy to Greatness.". Both had joined the Navy in 1936. Jake is eternally 24, still "aboard" the Arizona and one the first Americans killed in World War II. He stopped in the doorway . Their armada sailed in secret across the stormy northern Pacific Ocean to within striking distance of Hawaii. And it provided the story of the heroic African American sailor Dorie Miller, a 22-year-old mess attendant on the USS West Virginia who manned an antiaircraft gun and opened fire on enemy planes. He hurried to sound the alarm, but before he could, a bomb fell nearby and "knocked me silly. “When you grow up in the shadow of a hero, you don’t always realize a hero is there,” said one of Anderson’s sons, Terry Anderson, 53, of Roswell, N.M. “We have a great sense of pride.”. Many men were blown apart. . Both boys were fascinated with celebrities at a very early age. The Arizona interment is one of two scheduled for Wednesday that, along with many other commemorations this week, will likely mark the last major anniversary of the attack attended by survivors. "I got into the seat and said, 'Manned and ready.' But his twin brother, Delbert “Jake” Anderson, was manning an antiaircraft gun out on deck, and was in the thick of the action. After setting up the chairs on Dec. 7, he went below deck to have breakfast when he heard a “kaplunk,” looked out a porthole and saw planes bombing nearby Ford Island, he told columnist Bob Lind of the Forum newspaper of Fargo-Moorhead. “It will be a time … to thank God for all he did.”. For new development, St. Paul weighs reducing (or ditching) parking minimums, Dear Abby: Family and friends have doubts about widower's younger woman, Minnesota to see $2.83 billion from American Rescue Act, reviving tax relief debate. At first, he heard nothing of Jake, but he was told later that someone had seen him felled at his post by gunfire. The Americans, although forewarned, were overconfident, dismissive of Japanese capabilities, and did not expect the blow to come at Pearl Harbor, historians say. The Japanese, gambling that they could cripple U.S. forces as they expanded their Asian empire, launched the daring attack with 31 ships, including six aircraft carriers, and more than 350 airplanes. I carried that with me the rest of my life.”. . He muscled his way back to the barge, ignoring calls of, "You'll get killed out there," and set out toward the sinking, smoking, flaming Arizona in search of his twin brother, Delbert. John Anderson was wounded, but swam to land and grabbed a rifle and two bandoliers of ammunition. PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – When John D. Anderson reached his battle station in the USS Arizona's No. After his discharge in 1945, he worked as a movie stuntman and took night classes in meteorology. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! The Andersons were among 26 sets of brothers on the ship, but the only twins. The American sportscaster/anchor John Anderson has an estimated net worth of $8 million. “He went after it. Throughout an active and full life, Anderson carried the guilt of not being able to find his brother. It also gave history President Franklin D. Roosevelt's legendary "A date which will live in infamy" speech, delivered to Congress the next day. On the way, they pulled survivors from the harbor, but then the small craft was hit and wrecked, and all but John perished. Gow was with twin brother Josh on Saturday night, recording music and watching clips from their gig the night before. In 1985, Frank Sinatra was said to have hired 18 bodyguards from Krayleigh Enterprises, which was the Kray twin's protection company. He lived life to the fullest. He went out on the deck, "looked up and saw this plane dipping . But after they reached shore, John grabbed an empty boat and went back to the Arizona in the midst of the attack, nearly losing his life in the process. It’s very sad for me, but I’m honoring his wishes and his memory,” the Roswell woman said of her husband of 47 years. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John K. Anderson (born May 13, 1965) is a sports commentator from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and a host of the ESPN TV program SportsCenter since June 1999. He’s pictured at the USS Arizona. . "My legs were burned from my ankles to my thighs. “He was a wonderful man, very charismatic. Some Americans threw tools, potatoes and binoculars at the enemy aircraft. “They started hearing machine gun fire and explosions going off, and Dad went to the porthole of the ship out of the mess hall and that’s when he saw the Japanese planes flying by and he saw the orange balls and he knew the Japanese were there, because he had seen them in China,” said another son, John Anderson Jr., 47 of Carlsbad, N.M. John Anderson said in accounts after the war that he then headed for his post, all the while looking for his brother. "Warden was just going back for seconds . John's family said they believed they should rest together. As the ship began sinking, a senior officer ordered Anderson onto a barge taking wounded men to Ford Island, and they picked up wounded men on the way. "He talked all the time about his brother," John's son, John D. Anderson Jr., of Carlsbad, New Mexico, said in a telephone interview last month. A friend later convinced him to join the Navy Reserve, where he served for another 23 years. But within hours that Sunday "millions of families knew . © 2021 Anchorage Daily News. He was bigger than life,” Karolyn added. 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Pretty graphic stuff,” Terry Anderson said. Their remains will join those of about 1,100 sailors and Marines entombed in the ship. Here’s what to expect. A day we should never forget,” John Jr. said. Anderson moved to Roswell, where he was “Cactus Jack,” a disc jockey playing mostly country music. But his twin brother, Delbert "Jake" Anderson, was manning an antiaircraft gun out on deck, and was in the thick of the action. . . . – James Jones, "From Here to Eternity". Karolyn Anderson, 73, said that it’s been a difficult year since her husband’s death Nov. 14, 2015, at the age of 98. Reaching Ford island, in the war just in time for 100th anniversary of sailor Tom Anderson John! Morning worship services on the antiaircraft batteries. `` Macdonough, and fought in major. 'The Japanese are here, ' `` he could n't have made it, '' said! Commander, and they headed for shore antiaircraft guns hit and blown apart you... 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