Sailor braved boiling waters to look for twin after Pearl Harbor attack. 75 years later, they're reunited on the ocean floor
The USS Arizona had 79 brothers serving together, with 23 sets of brothers dying side by side in a single morning
John D. Anderson and his twin, Delbert "Jake" Anderson, both born in Verona, North Dakota, joined the U.S. Navy in 1937. Notably, both brothers were serving on the battleship USS Arizona when Japan carried out a surprise military attack against the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. While John somehow survived the deadly attack, his brother, Jake, succumbed to death, but his body was never recovered. Refusing to leave, John voluntarily rowed into boiling waters to search for his brother and was finally reunited with him, 75 years later, at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Around 8 am on December 7, 1941, John had gone out to grab a quick breakfast when he heard a loud explosion. Confused, he stepped onto the deck and froze, seeing red markings on the plane. In that moment, John realized they were under attack and immediately ran inside to pull the general alarm and inform his teammates. However, before he could reach the alarm, a bomb exploded pretty close to him, throwing him into the hatch.
Amidst the chaos, John somehow gathered himself and realized his twin brother was missing. Torn between attack and survival, he began searching for Jake, but he was nowhere to be found. Despite danger, John refused to leave without his brother. As time passed, rescue boats arrived near the burning ship, but nothing could convince him to get onto them until the lieutenant literally grabbed John and forced him into the boat. "I'm not leaving... my brother is someplace — I gotta find him," he kept saying, but the boat proceeded towards the shore.
Now, once the boat reached the shore, John decided to return to the ship, hoping to find Jake. He managed to rescue three more men but couldn't find his twin. In fact, on their way back to the shore, another explosion struck the boat, killing everyone, except for a few, including John. By now, the water was literally burning in places, but John, somehow, made his way to the shore and collapsed on the beach.
Only a few weeks earlier, a then-24-year-old John had requested his transfer to Arizona, to be with his brother. Little did he know, it would be the last time he'd see him.
The scale of the devastation that morning was overwhelming. According to History, more than 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,100+ wounded in the Pearl Harbor attack, with nearly half of the deaths occurring on the USS Arizona alone. Besides, on that very ship, there were 79 brothers serving together, and 63 of them were killed, with 23 sets of brothers dying side by side in a single morning, as reported by the National Park Service.
As John grieved his brother, he still chose to serve his country and was stationed on the USS Mac Donough, where he finished out the war. After World War II was over, the war veteran settled in Roswell, New Mexico, and lived a long, healthy life. Unfortunately, John left the world in 2015 at the age of 98 and reunited with his twin brother at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Well, as the United States marked the 75th year of the Pearl Harbor attack in 2016, John's ashes were interred underwater, reuniting him with Jake.
“No other grave site is as sacred in the United States Navy as that of the USS Arizona,” says Rear Adm. John Fuller, Commander. Referring to Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class John Anderson and Seaman 1st Class Clarendon “Clare” Hetrick, Fuller continued, “Today we’re honoring these two Pearl Harbor survivors who went on to live full and meaningful lives, despite having to carry the heavy burden of that day throughout their life’s journey." He went on to add how their efforts on December 7, 1941, made Americans safer and the nation stronger.
"About 1,100 sailors and Marines are entombed in the sunken memorial," CBS News reports.
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