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| Brothers Jack and William Anderson served together in Company F, 2nd Ranger Battalion. http://www.wwiirangers.org/our-rangers/jack-and-william-anderson/ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66691918/jack-derwood-anderson https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66691511/william-ernest-anderson |
Jack Derwoood Anderson never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on March 19, 1919 in California. His parents Frederick and Eunice were both born in Indiana. His father worked as a house decorator. Jack had one younger brother, William. His parents divorced in the 1920s and his mother remarried. Their stepfather was a traveling salesman. By 1940 Jack had completed four years of high school. He married Elsie Combs on July 22, 1941. They had at least one child.
Jack and William both volunteered for the army on February 3, 1943. They were originally assigned to the field artillery. While Jack stayed with the field artillery and reached the rank of Tec 5, William was accepted into the elite Army Rangers. He served in the 2nd Ranger Battalion, Company F and participated in the famous Ranger D-Day assault on Point Du Hoc. During the attack on Brest, William's actions would result in a posthumous award of the Silver Star. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant but was later busted back to private for garrison infractions.
The fierce Battle of the Hurtgen Forest began in September 1944 and lasted three months. The 2nd Ranger Battalion was brought in to replace the depleted 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division in mid-November. General Eisenhower visited his elite rangers shortly thereafter.
The dominating high ground in the area was referred to by the Americans as Hill 400. Three American infantry divsions and one armored division had tried to take the hill but all had failed. The task now fell to the Rangers. On December 2, Jack transferred to the same Ranger Company F so he could be with his brother. On December 7, Companies D and F (F had a total of only 65 men) were given the key role in taking Hill 400. The Germans were ready with accurate artillery and mortar fire. The Rangers charged with fixed bayonets yelling like Confederate rebels. Survivors said it was worse than their assault on Point Du Hoc. The courageous assault surprised the Germans who either withdrew or surrendered.
William Anderson was one of the first Rangers to get to the top of the hill. Shortly thereafter he was killed by the explosion of an enemy shell. The Rangers knew the Germans would counterattack and the rocky ground made it hard to dig foxholes. German artillery fire came in from three sides. Jack Anderson was also killed by shrapnel. The Rangers held the hill for 40 hours losing a fourth of their men to casualties which included Jack, William and 17 other dead plus 107 wounded. After being relieved, the next group of defenders lost the hill to the Germans who kept control of it for another three months.
The brothers' graves are side by side at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Their mother, who had no other children, died in 1978. Jack's widow remarried and died in 1994.
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| The Anderson brothers were buried side by side at the same ceremony. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66691918/jack-derwood-anderson |
You can read an excellent account of the Battle for Hill 400 by James Marino here.
Last year on this date I profiled B-17 pilot Henry Martinson. You can read about Henry here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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