Discovery ended half century of silence

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

James T. Anderson, a Texas boy with flaming red hair who went by "J.T.," played football at Eliot Junior High in California, joined the Army in 1939. He survived the Dec. 7, 1941, attack as a soldier at Schofield Barracks, received a combat injury in Saipan, and went to North Korea in 1950.

Korean War veteran Francis Yasutake carried a POW/MIA flag yesterday to a Hickam Air Force Base ceremony in which the remains of seven servicemen were repatriated. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Not until 2002, when representatives from Washington knocked on the door, did his family learn that Sgt. James T. Anderson, the "old man" of the squad at 30, had died on a wintry battlefield near Kujang just south of the Yalu River.

The soldier with the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion was part of a rear guard that was overrun by Chinese forces. Anderson likely died in a grenade exchange and was buried in a shallow grave.

His sister, the oldest of seven siblings, was notified two years ago.

"We didn't know until they showed up on my sister's doorstep," said a brother, Malcolm Anderson, 70, who lives in Grants Pass, Ore. "Just coming off the wall like that, she was just dumbfounded, I guess you would say."

As was Malcolm.

"It was a combination of a lot of things — relief, excitement, closure — because it had been 52 years," he said. "It brought some finality to the whole thing."

That closure had begun in 1999, when the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory, Hawai'i, recovered the remains from a foxhole and used dental records and mitochrondrial DNA to make an identification.

It's a process that plays out regularly within the Joint POW/ MIA Accounting Command — the name the recovery unit goes by now. The unit's work was on full display yesterday at Hickam Air Force Base, where the lab is headquartered.

Remains believed to be associated with Americans missing from a World War II B-17 bomber crash in France, an F-4 crash site in Laos, and from Unsan County and the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea, were repatriated to U.S. soil for identification and eventual return to families.

With members of all five U.S. services snapping salutes, and joint honor and color guards standing by, seven flag-draped metal caskets were ceremoniously offloaded from a C-130

The process of identifying remains begins as the remains of one of seven missing U.S. servicemen are repatriated at Hickam Air Force Base. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

The POW/MIA unit is the nation's sole recovery and identification organization for military members missing in action.

The remains range from a few bone fragments and bits of cloth to complete skeletons, but no matter the length of time missing or the degree of deterioration, the service members are treated with the same reverence.

Brig. Gen. W. Montague "Que" Winfield, who commands the POW/MIA unit, said it's part of the pact the country has made with its fighting men and women.

"It comes down to a promise that America makes to its heroes — not only fallen heroes, but those currently in uniform that are out there serving in harm's way — and that is, we will leave no one behind," Winfield said.

More than 1,100 Americans missing from past wars have been accounted for since 1973. There are still more than 1,800 Americans missing from the Vietnam War, more than 8,100 missing from the Korean War, and more than 78,000 missing from World War II.

Veterans are the most vocal in ensuring the nation doesn't forget, and among those maintaining a vigil is Nick Nishimoto, a 75-year-old Pearl City man who was captured in the Unsan area of North Korea on Nov. 27, 1950, and held prisoner until Aug. 11, 1953.

Nishimoto, a slight man who proudly carries a black-and-white POW/MIA flag, tries to attend every repatriation at Hickam. He's gone to so many he's lost count.

"Something like 15, 20 years I've been coming out here," he said yesterday. "To me, they are family members. They are brothers."

Nishimoto also stands by the recovery unit and its mission.

"I think it's really great," he said. "My buddy died in Camp 5 (in North Korea). His name is Albert Chang, and he was from Kapahulu. I buried him in camp and I hope one day I can go back and retrieve his remains, because I'm the only one who knows where he's buried."

At Camp 5 in Pyocktong on the Yalu River, 1,500 U.S. service members died in six months, Nishimoto said.

Since 1996, the POW/MIA command has held 35 joint recoveries with North Korea. A 28-person team last week crossed out of the North across the demilitarized zone after a 30-day mission, and the 35th joint recovery team headed into the country.

Hampered by heavy rain, the exiting team returned with the skeletal remains of the two U.S. service members repatriated yesterday.

More than 200 sets of remains have been recovered from the North since 1996. About 15 identifications have been made.

Anderson boys, from left: Irvin; the boys' father, behind Malcolm, now 70; and "J.T.," whose fate was unknown from the Korean War until 2002, when the Army told the family it had identified the remains. Malcolm Anderson

"It may not happen tomorrow, it may not the day after tomorrow, but the bottom line is we're going to bring them all home," he said.

For Malcolm Anderson, the identification that counted most was made in 2002, after his brothers' remains had been located and repatriated to the United States three years before.

All that was found were the skeletal remains, some buttons and bits of uniform. Other service members who were on the battlefield supplied information as to what likely had happened to James Anderson.

Malcolm Anderson was just 6 when his brother joined the Army and went to fight in World War II and was gone until 1945.

"In many ways I didn't know him," Malcolm Anderson said. Another brother was a gunner on a B-17 bomber in Italy.

Malcolm served in South Korea in 1953 as a Navy corpsman, and it was there that he developed a deeper respect for his missing brother. The Army sent the family a Western Union message on Dec. 28, 1950, saying James Anderson was missing in action.

"Both of my brothers were in combat. Nobody ever shot at me," he said. "I can just imagine what they went through. I got a feel for it, but not a real taste. It made me appreciate what they did."

Anderson thinks what the POW/MIA command does is "wonderful."

"It crossed my mind, if I'd been in combat and something happened to me, I'd want (to be returned to family also)," he said.

He sent a letter to President Bush thanking him for the efforts of the POW/MIA unit.

"One of the main reasons was to praise (JPAC) because of the way they handled it, with dignity," he said. "They were helpful and they couldn't do enough. They are sensitive to the whole thing, and it just made it easier."

James Anderson, posthumously promoted to sergeant 1st class, is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.

His marker reads: James T. Anderson, SFC US Army, World War II Korea, Oct. 14 1920 — Dec. 31 1953, Purple Heart, MIA N Korea 1950.

And at the bottom: Home 2002.

It's there because "we're proud of the fact he's our brother, he's home, and that's it," Malcolm Anderson said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.