Meet Marine Jim Anders

CHILDRESS – In honor of Veterans Day, which is Friday, Nov. 11, meet Marine Jim Anders.

“To me, serving in the military is a great honor and a privilege,” Anders said. “It was a way for me to pay back those who came before me and who served and died or were injured on the battlefield defending our freedoms.”

Joining the Marines in 1986 was a dream come true for Anders.

“I wanted to be a Marine from the time I was a little boy,” said Anders, who was avid reader of military and war history as a kid. He even had Marine posters on his wall. “It influenced me. I wanted to be a soldier of the sea.”

Anders’ unit had just gone through desert warfare training when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Anders said.

“We loaded up all our stuff,” he explained. “I was on the advanced party. I flew over on a C141. When the rest of the unit got there, we painted our armored vehicles the correct color and took off into the desert. We fought the Iraqis in the battle for Kuwait.”

During the Gulf War, Anders was a crew chief gunner on an assault amphibian vehicle, commonly known as an Amtrak, which is short for amphibious tractor. He turned 24 in the desert.

“All the guys were younger than me,” he said. “Can you imagine being 24 and being the authority figure?” Even though his unit was full of 19-year-old and 20-year-old Marines, Anders said they were all men. “They weren’t kids. They were just young.”

Anders served until 1992. While his unit was the last ground combat unit to leave, none were hurt and there were no casualties, he said.

“When I landed in America, I actually got off the plane and kissed the ground,” he said. “To me, America is the symbol of everything good. We don’t always get it right, but we try.”

When I thanked Anders for his service, he responded with this: “I feel a little uncomfortable when people tell me thank you. It’s not that I don’t appreciate them thanking me, because I do. But I would like to thank them. I couldn’t believe they were paying me (to be a Marine).”

When asked what Veterans Day means to him, Anders said, “To me, Veterans Day is the day when we honor all veterans – whether they fought in a war, lived or died, went overseas or not. A lot of people don’t understand that people in the military don’t get a choice where they go.”

While Anders doesn’t consider himself a hero, I do. Please join me in thanking him and all of our veterans this Veterans Day.