James Thomas Anderson: Declared missing in action when his unit was overrun

Remains of soldier
missing in Korean
War come home

The veteran’s remains will be buried
with honors at Punchbowl

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

Malcolm "Andy" Anderson watched at Freedom Village in Panmunjom in South Korea during the summer of 1953 as sick and wounded American troops were exchanged for Chinese communist prisoners of war.

He hoped his brother, Sgt. 1st Class James Thomas Anderson, would be one of those helped down from Army ambulances. Thirty-year-old James, or "J.T." as he was known by his close-knit West Texas family of eight, had been declared missing in action when his unit was overrun by Chinese communist forces in North Korea on Nov. 28, 1950.

But J.T. was not among the POWs. He became a statistic of the Korean War, one of 8,100 soldiers listed as missing in action.

But in 1999, a search and recovery team from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory and North Korea recovered what they believed was the remains of at least two soldiers in Pyongan-Pukto Province. Dental records and DNA testing confirmed that one of the soldiers was J.T.

Tomorrow, a day after what would have been J.T.'s 82nd birthday, the Korean War veteran will be buried at the National Cemetery of the Pacific with full military honors. His coffin will be draped with an American flag with 48 stars.

"When the military official declared J.T. was dead in 1953," said Andy Anderson, 69, "they gave my father an American flag. I have kept it in a footlocker. It will be draped on his coffin on Tuesday."

Four members of Anderson's family -- Andy Anderson; his wife, Marie Anderson; sister Esther Riley of Hemet, Calif.; and a niece, Ginger Wheeler of Pasadena, Calif. -- will be at Punchbowl when J.T. is laid to rest.

Andy Anderson said that when Punchbowl was suggested as a burial site, the family thought it would be appropriate since he was stationed at Schofield Barracks when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and he served for nearly four years in the Pacific campaign.

"His name is also on a wall there (Punchbowl) as missing in action," Andy Anderson said.

Anderson said after his brother was discharged in 1945, he tried to work as a plumber. That and other jobs didn't work out, so J.T. re-enlisted in 1948.

J.T. was at Fort Lewis in Washington with the 2nd Infantry Division when the Korean War broke out in June 1950. He was a member of A Company, 2nd Combat Engineering Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On July 17, 1950, his unit was ordered to South Korea.

Manpower was scarce, and soldiers like J.T. were thrown in with the infantry to hold back the Chinese communist invasion. On the night of Nov. 27, 1950, Chinese Communist forces attacked the 2nd Division near the town of Kujang-don in North Korea south of the Chinese border. Anderson's unit was deployed on the line with the 1st Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment. The Chinese overran the American position before the U.S. could counter-attack.

Andy Anderson said he was told by a soldier in J.T.'s unit that J.T. was last seen at 10:25 a.m. on Nov. 28 "throwing grenades. The Chinese were throwing grenades too, and J.T. was throwing them back." After Anderson's unit regrouped, J.T. was reported missing, among 68 soldiers unaccounted for as a result of this incident.

Andy Anderson, who now lives in Grants Pass, Ore., said he was only a junior in high school the day his parents got the letter that J.T. was missing in action.

"It wasn't easy on them (his parents)," Anderson said. "In World War II, J.T. was in the South Pacific, and I had another brother who was a flight engineer and a top turret gunner on a B-17 in Europe. These two guys were my heroes. I would play war then. I must have been 9 or 10 at the time. You know I would play war, but they were actually in it." Andy Anderson joined the Navy in 1951 after his brother was reporting missing in action and became a Navy corpsman.

"I asked to be sent to Korea in February 1953 and after the cease fire. I went to Panmunjom so I could be there when 'Big Switch' took place, which was the final exchange of prisoners of war.

"Up until the repatriations, we didn't know if my brother was dead or was a POW," he said. "If he came over the DMZ, I was going to go meet him there. I figured when he wasn't among those repatriated, he was gone for good," Andy Anderson said. "I was hoping my brother would show up. When he didn't, we all knew it was over."

In July 2001, Anderson and Riley gave blood samples that became part of the military's DNA data bank. However, it was not until a month and half ago when the Army called Riley in Southern California did the family have any inkling that J.T.'s remains were recovered.

"It has been surreal," Andy Anderson said. "We've always talked about J.T. over the past 50 years. J.T. has always been a part of the family."