Flag flies for Navy aviator

E.S. Anderson, QMA 2c, served with the U.S. Navy Aviation in Callais, France and the Northern Bombing Group in France.

Today, a flag will be raised in his honor at 9 a.m. in front of the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center.

A sea bag lists the places Anderson served: Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Hoboken, Brest, Bordeaux, Pauillac, Lyons, Marseilles, Paris, Callais, Autingues, Dunkirk, Furnes, Brugges, St. Omer, Lille, Ypres, Balleul, Ardes, London, St. Nazaire, and back to the United States, Newport News and Hampton Roads.

Anderson’s daughter, a Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, resident was cleaning out her possessions before a move when she came across her father’s uniform shirt, ROTC cap, helmet and sea bag. She thought her father’s materials should go back to the United States in whose Navy he served. The items were received by American Legion Richard I. Bong Post 435 commander David Kringle from Comrade George Kearney, president of Legion Fort William Branch No. 6, Thunder Bay, at the annual banquet on Nov. 10, 2011, celebrating Remembrance Day in Thunder Bay.

American Legion Post 435 is donating these items to the Bong Heritage Center in Superior in the hope that they may become part of a future World War I display.

Anderson’s items and biography will remain on display at the center for a week. The flag-raising is open to the public.

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