Rank and Name, Private First Class Earl Joseph Anderson.
Unit/Placed in, 499th Bomber Squadron, 345th Bomber Group (Medium).
The Members from the 345th Bomber Group boarded a group of “Liberty” ships for transport from New Guinea to set up bases and begin missions on the Philippines.
Earl is born approx. on 1912 in McKean County, Pennsylvania.
Stepfather, John A. Swanson.
Mother, Dina B. Swanson (Anderson).
Sister(s), Elsie M. Anderson and Elnora Swanson.
Brother(s), Wilber O. Anderson.
Earl enlisted the service in Pennsylvania with service number # 33270283.
Earl was KIA when they were attacked by Kamikazes on Nov. 12, 1944, he is honored with a Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, Distinguished Unit Citation, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, WW II Victory Medal.
Earl is buried/mentioned at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial Manila, Metro Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines.
Walls of the missing.
Thanks to, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/17e3ab3aadf248a496f7b9ac8fd6a79d
http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/USAAF/345th_Bombardment_Group.html
Jean Louis Vijgen, WW2-Pacific Website.
Air Force Info, Rolland Swank.
ABMC Website, https://abmc.gov
Navy Info, http://navylog.navymemorial.org
POW Info, http://www.mansell.com Dwight Rider and Wes injerd.
Family Info, https://www.familysearch.org
Marines Info, https://missingmarines.com/ Geoffrey Roecker
Info, https://www.pacificwrecks.com/
Medals Info, https://www.honorstates.org
Philppine Info, http://www.philippine-scouts.org/
Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com
By late 1944, U.S. troops landed at the island of Leyte. Members of the Air Apaches boarded a group of “Liberty” ships for transport from New Guinea to set up bases and begin missions on the Philippines. In a twist of fate, Hans stepped onto the SS Thomas Nelson.
The slow-moving convoy finally arrived at Leyte in early November. Stalled construction of airstrips and quarters forced the airmen of the 345th to wait on the liberty ships. Loaded with men and materiel, six liberty ships anchored in Dulag harbor became targets for one of the first appearances of the fanatical suicide kamikaze pilots, the so-called “Divine Wind.”
On Nov. 12, about lunchtime, a group of 10 Japanese zeroes appeared on the horizon and targeted the relatively defenseless liberty ships. Weaving its way through a thin veil of 20 mm gun fire, a zero slammed into the aft of the Thomas Nelson. The fiery explosion ripped into the number four hold, the quarters for Wright’s squadron, the 498th Falcons. Trapped in the hold next to a load of ammunition, men on the Thomas Nelson worked frantically to save the ship and rescue the men
