https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001IfuF7EAJ

On March 10, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Motor Machinist's Mate First Class John Emanuel Anderson, missing from World War II.

Motor Machinist's Mate First Class Anderson entered the U.S. Navy from Minnesota and served aboard Landing Craft Tank Hull Number 30 (LCT-30) during the invasion of Normandy, France. He was in the engine room of the LCT-30 when the vessel was destroyed by enemy fire or a mine at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. MOMM1 Anderson was killed in the incident, and although his remains were recovered from the LCT after the battle, he could not be identified at the time and was eventually interred as an unknown at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. In 2015, a request from MOMM1 Anderson's family prompted a reevaluation of his case. DPAA analysts conducted a new historical investigation that associated MOMM1 Anderson with the unknown remains that had been recovered from LCT-30 in 1944. These remains were exhumed and analyzed by scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory who used modern forensic tools to identify them as MOMM1 Anderson.

Lost, struck a mine off the Normandy beachhead, 6 June 1944 LCT-30 was assigned to land on Easy Green, Omaha Beach but instead landed on Easy Red, Omaha Beach. After unloading and retracting she was hit by an artillery shell in the engine room, disabling all three engines. The LCT was abandoned under fire with the loss of one man Killed in Action (John Emanuel Anderson MoMM1/c)

Motor Machinist's Mate First Class Anderson is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/18/180030.htm

Tom Cherveny
West Central Tribune
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Sailor’s remains to return to Willmar
Willmar Minnesota 2208 Trott Ave. SW / P.O. Box 839 56201

WILLMAR — Oscar Anderson never recovered from the emotional heartbreak he suffered when a telegram arrived June 6, 1944, with the news of his son’s death in the D-Day invasion of France.

Hard too was the last official news the family received from the military. It told them Motor Machinist Mate 1st Class John E. Anderson, 24, had been lost at sea.

Oscar and Anna Anderson went to their graves feeling there was no solution or closure in the loss of their son, said Don Franklin of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Franklin, now 77, once went to the beaches of Normandy where he saw his nephew’s name inscribed on a monument to those listed as “missing in action’’ in the invasion. “It’s always sort of hanging in the air, what really happened,’’ Franklin said.

“Now we have an answer,’’ Franklin said.

And today, the surviving family members of John E. Anderson and the community he once called home will have the closure that has eluded all for 72 years.

The remains of John E. Anderson will return to Willmar around 8 p.m. today when they are delivered to the Peterson Brothers Funeral Home.

On Saturday, the community is invited to gather at 1 p.m. at the Willmar War Memorial Auditorium for a service to remember John. E. Anderson. Franklin said surviving family members will be joined by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Shortly after, they will host a committal service at the Fairview Cemetery, where John E. Anderson’s remains will be interred alongside those of his parents.

For all of these 72 years, they had been interred in the American Cemetery in France, in a grave marked “Unknown X-91.’’

The family’s answer was made possible by a discovery in 2009 by Ted Darcy of Virginia and Brian Siddall of New York. They conduct research to help families whose loved ones were recorded as missing in action. They came upon records that led them to suspect that John E. Anderson’s remains were in the “Unknown X-91” grave.

Family members and Jon Lindstrand of Kandiyohi took up the trail from there. They began accumulating evidence in hopes of persuading the military to disinter the remains and conduct a genetic test. John E. Anderson’s sister, Esther, mother of Don Franklin and longtime Willmar resident, submitted a sample of her DNA for the process. She is now deceased.

Two requests for disinterment were rejected, but the third filed by Don Franklin in January 2015 was approved. The family had accumulated a lot of evidence by this point, including the official military report from the D-Day invasion on the fate of the transport ship on which Anderson had served at the time of his death. A letter of support from Sen. Klobuchar was also influential in making things happen, he said.

Grave X-91 was disinterred in October. The family received positive confirmation April 17 that the remains were those of their loved one.

Anderson had been serving aboard the troop transport ship LCT-30. It had just discharged troops during the invasion. The machinist mate was alone in the boiler room when a German artillery shell struck, killing him instantly.

His remains were in the bottom of the landing craft, Franklin said. There was confusion. The Army was supposed to take them and bury them. They put them in an unmarked grave, he said.

Knowing what happened does fill a gap, helps provide an answer the family has long sought, Franklin said.

It also allows the family the closure of being able to bring their loved one home, and see to it that he receives the farewell with full military honors he deserves. Anderson had been awarded the Purple Heart posthumously. He had served in the campaigns in North Africa and Italy before joining the D-Day forces.

Franklin said several of Anderson’s surviving nephews and nieces will be in Willmar for the event. Those who remember Anderson were very young at the time of his death, he noted.

“Our memory of him is really of a man in uniform who would come by on his leave and say hello and bring us presents or something,’’ he said.

Come Saturday, those memories will be made complete. There will be eulogies to tell the story of John E. Anderson and his sacrifice, as well as a 21-gun salute and the music of a brass band, all to make it known that he is not forgotten.

https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/777787/sailor-missing-from-world-war-ii-accounted-for-anderson/

Sailor Missing From World War II Accounted For (Anderson)

Release No: 16-027 May 20, 2016

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, unaccounted for since World War II, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Navy Motor Machinist’s Mate 1st Class John E. Anderson, 24, of Willmar, Minnesota, will be buried May 28 in his hometown. On June 6, 1944, Anderson was in Landing Craft Tank (LCT), Mark 5, Hull Number 30, which landed on Omaha Beach, France during the invasion of Normandy. Upon landing, men and equipment left the tank, while Anderson went to the engine room to check the sand traps. The landing craft was subsequently destroyed by either enemy fire or an enemy mine. Anderson was killed in the attack.

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.

In January 2015, following a request by the family of MoMM1c Anderson, a new historical investigation by DPAA showed a strong association between the unidentified remains and Anderson.

Under its new disinterment process, in August 2015, DPAA successfully recommended the remains designated X-91 St. Laurent be disinterred for analysis by the DPAA laboratory.

To identify Anderson’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used circumstantial evidence; mitochondrial DNA analysis, which matched a sister and a nephew; as well as anthropological analysis.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or call (703) 699-1420.

John E Anderson