Sharing memories of the war in the Pacific

DINGMAN - “Life as a Navy corpsman during WWII meant you had to have an armed soldier at your side all the time,” said Dingman resident, Clifford Anderson. Anderson is a decorated veteran who now lives a quiet and peaceful life in Pike County. He spends his time golfing and gardening, and the war is just a memory to be talked about only when necessary. Those who read the book or saw the film, “Flags of our Fathers,” will recall the perilous job of Navy medic, or corpsman. “When I was stationed on any of the Pacific Islands with a Navy corpsman band on my arm I had to have an armed soldier with me all the time. The Japanese considered killing a Navy corpsman like killing five soldiers because that would prevent wounded soldiers from getting necessary medical attention to keep them alive,” reported Anderson. Anderson, now 82 years old, joined the service in 1943. After boot camp, he headed for the Navy Hospital Corps School in Virginia for 16 weeks. Following corps training, he was off to San Francisco and soon afterwards to the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, which had been a Japanese stronghold. The U.S. invaded the islands, took them, and stationed U.S. troops there. Some of the remaining Japanese soldiers that were not killed or captured remained hiding out in the dense forest and often fired upon the Americans. Unusual situations broke the tension. Once, while he was stationed there, Johnson recalled a lone Japanese fighter bomber that came in low, dropped a full load of bombs and hit nothing. It was a story he could chuckle about. There were adventures. Anderson described riding out a typhoon when he was aboard the USS Tonkawa at sea. The typhoon’s swells hit the ship and causing it to rise and fall great distances. Tonkawa remained afloat and seaworthy. The same typhoon hit the mainland and tossed large freighters up onto the shore as if they were toys. “Most war movies you see today aren’t accurate and are made to sell tickets,” he stated. Anderson has a Japanese flag, covered with blood stains, displayed in a large glass covered picture frame in his basement. He said he took it from a Japanese soldier. The soldier had the flag wrapped around him when he was killed by our troops. “The Japanese were tough but the war is long over and only memories remain of that sad time. I still harbor some resentment toward the Japanese because I saw so many of our troops suffer and it’s hard to just forget,” Anderson said with remorse. “I try to blank-out memories of the horrors of the war and just remember the good times,” Anderson remarked. The good times he remembered were the football and baseball games against the Army. He especially remembers when a Navy ship came into port and Phil Rizzuto and Yogi Berra, of the Yankees, were aboard serving in the war effort. Of course a baseball game was started and the Navy beat the Army by a score of 14 to 0. “WWII and my time in the Navy were a necessary part of my life but it did prevent me from doing some things that I had wanted to do. I longed to go into the forestry service and that never happened,” Anderson said. He continued, “Today I like to play golf five times a week and leave those memories behind.” Anderson served eight years in the Navy. “I’d be ready to go back in today if it could bring a young soldier home that had a whole life to go,” he concluded.