Hometown: Willmar, MN
Branch: U.S. Navy
Unit: LCT-30
Military Honors: Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: June 6, 1944 - KIA at Omaha Beach, Normandy, France
Age: 24
Conflict: World War II, 1939-1945

John Anderson was born on September 25, 1919, in Willmar, Minnesota—west of Minneapolis in a countryside dotted by small lakes. The youngest child of Oscar and Anna Anderson, John had three older sisters: Esther, Marian, and Alice. Oscar was a Swedish immigrant who had come to America in 1910 and become a U.S. citizen in 1913.

As a young man, John worked for his father’s successful painting and decorating business after graduating from Willmar High School in 1937. The family planned for John to eventually take over the business.

The surprise Japanese attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, changed everything. John enlisted in the U.S. Navy just two months later, on February 7, to defend his country.

Training for War

Before leaving for basic training at Naval Station Great Lakes in northern Illinois, Anderson and his girlfriend Hannah became engaged and planned to marry when John returned from the war.

According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, “Between the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and the 14 August 1945 surrender of Japan, over four million Americans served in the Navy. One million of those sailors were trained at Great Lakes.”

From basic training, Anderson was sent to U.S. Naval Training School in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where he completed the 16-week Motor Machinist Mate course. The official description of duties for a Motor Machinist Mate included: “Operate machine tools. Operate and maintain internal combustion engines and engine auxiliaries. Knowledge of pressure and air systems. Be familiar with electrical apparatus.”

In a letter home to his sister, Esther, John wrote, “I don’t mind working in the shop but that studying business at night is terrible along with guard duty.” Motor Machinist Mates were trained and tested on every type of equipment they’d encounter on their ships. They were required to know how to keep the ship motors running in the worst possible situations.

Anderson was sent next to the U.S. Naval Training School in Detroit, Michigan, for diesel motor training, where he’d repeatedly tear down and rebuild the engines. He graduated in September 1942, and was assigned to serve on a LCT MK-5 (Landing Craft, Tank) crew.

Next came amphibious assault training in Norfolk, Virginia. LCTs were used to deliver armored tanks, cargo, and troops to hostile shores.

“Over There”

In February of 1943, without knowing his destination, Anderson left the United States for the long voyage to World War II’s Mediterranean theater.

His first stop was in Oran, Algeria. Two months earlier, in November 1942, Allied forces had liberated Algeria as part of Operation Torch, an invasion of North Africa intended to draw Axis forces away from Europe’s eastern front.

Anderson was assigned to a crew of 12 men aboard the USS LCT-30 and saw his first combat action in Operation Husky—the Allied invasion of Sicily launched on July 10, 1943. After securing the island, the Allies launched Operation Avalanche on September 3, 1943, to begin the invasion of Italy. The crew of LCT-30 would deliver supplies and forces to the southern assault beaches of Salerno, Italy, coming under enemy fire during the assault.

In January of 1944, Anderson was sent to England to prepare for the Allied invasion of the European mainland—Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious invasion in history. According to the Eisenhower Presidential Library, “The invasion force included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight allied countries.”

Just before the D-Day invasion, Anderson passed his Motor Machinist Mate 1st Class exam.

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Anderson and the LCT-30 crossed the English Channel and landed at what the Allies had code-named “Omaha Beach” as part of the massive invasion of Normandy, France. They successfully delivered their tanks, equipment, and men of the 467th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion to shore.

The crew of LCT-30 safely completed its mission under heavy fire—until they began to move out. Weeks later, LCT-30’s Officer-in-Charge submitted an action report:

Within this period of ten minutes, vehicles and engineers from the small boat were unloaded safely. We began to retreat at once, and all seemed too good to be true. This is when the magazine drum exploded. Then when fifty feet from shore a shell exploded amidships directly in the engine room. All engines were knocked out, engine room filled with water immediately. The ship, disabled grounded ashore. John Anderson MoMM1c could never be reached in the engine room where he had dutifully gone to check the sand traps. It was evident that he was killed outright.

John Emanuel Anderson was 24 years old. The remaining crew of LCT-30 was ordered to abandon ship, go to the beach, and get back on one of the incoming LCTs.

Return Home

In the chaos and confusion that followed that first day of the Normandy invasion, John Anderson’s remains were recovered from the ship’s boiler room. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency reports:

On July 1, 1944, a set of remains were recovered from the boiler room of the LCT, and were interred by the Army at the temporary American cemetery near Omaha Beach, St. Laurent-sur-Mer #1 and designated X-91 St. Laurent. At the time, Army Graves Registration did not have access to the Navy’s records and were unable to identify the remains as Anderson’s. The remains were later reinterred at the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, France.

Anderson’s family was notified that he was lost at sea. It would take 71 years before a DNA match would positively identify the remains of X-91 as those of John Anderson.

On May 8, 2016, John E. Anderson was returned home, and at last laid to rest in his hometown of Willmar, Minnesota. His name is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France, located in Colleville-sur-Mer.

As is the custom, a rosette has been placed next to Anderson’s name—to indicate that he has been found.

Sources
Pioneer Press, May 25, 2016: Minnesota sailor killed on D-Day finally returning home
West Central Tribune, May 26, 2016: John E. Anderson
West Central Tribune, May 28, 2016: A hero’s service for Anderson as he is laid to rest
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency: Sailor Missing From World War II Accounted For (Anderson)
Bluestem Prairie, May 30, 2016: No better Memorial Day story: Motor Machinist Mate John Emanuel Anderson's return to Willmar
Honor States: John Emanuel Anderson
United States Military History Collection: John E. Anderson
History on the Net: D-Day Landing Craft
Burial Site: Find a Grave