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DEL.ICIO.USVictor Anderson: Saw buddies die, then bomb ended his life
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Americus — Victor Anderson had a very close call 10 days ago.
Victor AndersonRead text of Sgt. Anderson’s e-mail
The 39-year-old platoon sergeant was riding in a patrol convoy July 24 when a bomb planted in the road destroyed the Humvee just behind his, killing four National Guardsmen from Georgia.
“Well I guess everyone has heard the news,” he e-mailed family and friends here last week. “They were my guys. They felt no pain.”
Anderson helped prepare the bodies for shipment home, he told his younger brother later in a phone conversation.
“He volunteered to help because he didn’t want his men to have to see what he saw,” said Joseph Poole. “He said it was just awful.”
On Tuesday, Poole stood outside his mother’s home with a somber host of relatives. Like other families across Georgia, they were waiting for a body: his brother’s. Sgt. Victor Anderson died Saturday in a second attack on a convoy outside Baghdad, only six days after his narrow escape.
The July 24 bombing produced the first combat fatalities since the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team was deployed to Iraq in May. The second, almost identical attack Saturday killed another four soldiers from the same platoon. At least two of them, including Anderson, were in the first patrol and had witnessed that terrible scene.
Barely two months into the brigade’s yearlong mission, Georgia towns are coping with multiple casualties among their recently civilian soldiers. Two of the eight guardsmen killed in the bombings were from Valdosta. Two others worked in Americus and lived near this southwest Georgia town.
Anderson was a deputy in the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department. Spc. Jacques “Gus” Brunson, who died in the first attack, had worked next door at the Sumter County Correctional Institute.
“It’s hard to live this way, knowing that someone can knock on your door at any time with this kind of news,” said Elisia Ingle of Americus, who received a visit from an Army casualty notification team last week. She is Brunson’s ex-wife and mother of his two children. Her husband, Ronald, is also serving with the 48th Brigade in Iraq, and she works with Ellen Anderson, Victor Anderson’s widow, at Sumter Regional Hospital.
Operating room nurses had chosen Anderson in their adopt-a-soldier program, showering him with letters, goodies and comforts from home. He sent them thank-you cards addressed “To the OR Girls.” Now the department bulletin board has a picture of him in his dress uniform posted next to a fresh black ribbon.
Hospital employees who know the couple well remembered Anderson on Tuesday as a playful man who liked to horse around with his children, 9-year-old Tyler and 14-year-old Jessica.
“Victor was the class clown, always silly,” said Lisa English, a financial counselor at the hospital. She was in Anderson’s 1983 graduating class at Tri-Counties High School up the road in Buena Vista. Her eyes welled up as she spoke of her friend, who had recently asked her to send him some “cool music.”
Her colleague Sundie Avery recalled that Anderson helped underwrite a recreation league baseball team and usually showed up for games wearing his Guard fatigues. He was so proud of his military service that he often sported his desert camouflage around town.
Anderson looked like a soldier with his shaved head, ramrod posture and short, stocky build. He grew up in Ellaville, a small town north of Americus, and enlisted in the Army after high school. He left active service and joined the Guard, taking a job as a police officer in Ellaville.
He re-enlisted in the Army after the Gulf War, meeting his wife of 11 years when he was posted in Germany. He left the Army again, rejoined the Guard and settled into a life of family and police work.
Anderson had been overseas with the Guard, as a peacekeeper in Bosnia, and he badly wanted to go to Iraq. But it almost didn’t happen.
In January, when the brigade was mobilized, he was told that he couldn’t join the other soldiers because of his diabetes. When hundreds of people turned out to see the unit off in a motorcade through the middle of Americus, Anderson had to settle for leading the way in a police cruiser.
“He had tears streaming down his face,” said Maj. Jimmy Jordan of the Sheriff’s Department, a retired guardsman who befriended Anderson. “It really hurt him not to be with his men.”
Anderson exercised, dieted, lost weight. Not long before the brigade deployed in May, he was cleared to go.
“He was as happy as a boy on Christmas morning,” said Jordan, who recalled his last encounter with Anderson. They hugged in the halls of the Sheriff’s Department, and he told the younger man to be careful.
On Tuesday, family and friends gathered at the home of Anderson’s mother and stepfather at the end of a long dirt road in the countryside north of Ellaville. Anderson lived next door with his wife and children in a rustic house with gray wooden timbers. In the yard sat a silver Chrysler Sebring with a yellow magnetic ribbon on the bumper that said, “Pray for SSG Anderson.”
“I talked to him just Friday morning,” said his mother, Belinda Poole, as she straightened the photos on a tabletop shrine in her living room. “He called and said they were getting ready to go out on some more missions. He was calm. If that bombing upset him, he didn’t show it.”
Outside, in the afternoon swelter, her husband and several other kinfolk were digging a hole in the front yard. They were erecting a flagpole, like so many Marines hoisting the Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima. They wanted to raise a flag so they could lower it to half-staff.
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Comments
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By Janicia
August 3, 2005 08:40 AM | Link to this
After this week, the realities of war have smacked me right in the face. How sad I am for all the families of these soldiers, but how proud I am to know they died fighting for a just cause. May God bless all soldiers in uniform and bring them home safely.
By Mom of Spc William McCaslin (48th BCT, 2/121st)
August 3, 2005 09:08 AM | Link to this
My son and his best friend, Josh, are there. Josh’s mom wrote this prayer and has allowed me to share it:
Dear Father I come to You to Praise You for always holding true to Your promises and because I know that You are the One who makes everything possible, and that You control everything. Nothing takes You by surprise for You know everything and are everywhere.
Dear Lord, I hold our troops close to my heart for they are doing something that I can not do. I see them as Your protection to me, and that is why I ask for Your protection over them. Help them to go into battle with the full armor of God on and a clear mind so they will be prepared no matter what comes their way. I lift them up to you for You are the only One who can sustain them and know their every need. You are with them no matter where they may go. Guide them in the paths they need to walk so they may overcome the enemy. Help them not be surprised by the enemy and his tactics. For they will encounter times that are beyond their capabilities but You are there with them. Help them to be able to curtail the enemy’s plans and reveal their tactics before they go into action. Give the military leaders the insight to see what the enemy will do and the fortitude to get what they need accomplished. Give them clear tactics that will overcome or deter the enemy before he strikes. Give them strength to endure all the obstacles and a sense of what they are doing as being that of a high purpose.
Dear Lord just help them feel Your presence and show them how much myself and others here in the States appreciate and respect their courage to go and do the things that they do. Help them not to grow weary at doing good and helping others. Give the chaplains the words to say in these times so they can help show others Christ’s love. Just let the Spirit of God flood the hearts of all to look to Him for the free gift of Salvation.
Please be with them and help them to look to You, the Author and Finisher of all things.
May the Lord bless and keep you in His loving arms today and always.
By Rodney K. Brown
August 3, 2005 09:31 AM | Link to this
AS a father of one of our hero’s over there, Sgt. Lance Brown, of Bremen, Georgia, it’s hard to not have mixed emotions when one of our own falls. When you hear of someone dying, you first have the terrible fear that it might be yours, and you mentally track the location. Your fear eases when you hear it West of Baghdad or another part of the service. Then the fear goes away when you hear from your child. But then if you are like me you fall from that good feeling thinking of the family that is getting this news. War is so unfair. Freedom comes with such a huge price. Life is such a blessing. Life is far too short. God Bless these men and women that do what they can to make freedom last for us. Thank you.
By V. Dues
August 3, 2005 10:20 AM | Link to this
Farewell to another one of our “Brave Soldiers” May “God” bewith you Stg. Victor Anderson, rest in piece our dear soldier! As for your family you will certainly be in my prayers!
You can all rejoice in knowing that as a mother, father, wife and children your beloved Stg.Victor Anderson died loving and protecting his Country.
Prayerfully, V.Dues
By cathy g
August 3, 2005 10:22 AM | Link to this
As I read of the losses we have sustained, all I can think is when will this terrible time be over. I think of my friend who is currently deployed, and watch for his name, praying I don’t see it, so I know he is safe. God bless them all, for suffering for us, for believing in our intent, and for risking what few would risk, their very lives! What sacrifices they make, all in the name peace, justice, and honor. No words can express my gratitude, or sorrow adequetly. I pray God’s grace be upon them all, and their families.
By Dianne Lassiter McCutchen
August 3, 2005 10:30 AM | Link to this
I live in the small town of Ellijay, GA in the North Georgia Mountains. As I went to breakfast this morning before work, I glanced at the headlines of the Atlanta paper as I do every morning. What caught my eye was more fatalities in Iraq (as I look daily because a lady who works in my office has a son in the 48th brigade that left in May and he’s a gunner so we all pray for his safety), but what really caught my eye more than that this particular morning was the caption “Americus”. I am from Americus as I was born and raised there, graduating from Southland Academy in 1977. The fact that another fatality occurred in Iraq and this time from my home town is bittersweet. I can sympathize even more because a boy from this home town (Ellijay) was killed in June. The outpouring of this town and the community was overwhelming. Some of the business people around here got a crusade going to get as many yellow ribbons as possible together to show the family of fallen Noah Harris how we all feel. 30 miles of yellow ribbons on stakes (my company donated 250 stakes) in the ground lined the highways coming into Ellijay from Atlanta. Yellow ribbons are flying from every business and the streets through Ellijay were lined with yellow ribbons and American flags in anticipation of Noah’s memorial service. Although I can’t be in Americus for Mr. Anderson’s family and friends, it is my belief that my home town will show its remorse and respect for Mr. Anderson in the same way whether it’s yellow ribbons or another form. When a death touches the hearts of local people, people you know and love, or even if you don’t know the people, we all come together in grief and sadness. My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Victor Anderson. And I extend my personal thank you to his family and friends for giving his life for a cause he believed in for the freedom of the lives of those in Iraq just as those before us gave their lives for the freedom we now enjoy. In His love, sincerely and my deepest sympathy, Dianne Lassiter McCutchen
By Donna
August 3, 2005 10:31 AM | Link to this
My prayers go out to all the families that have lost a loved one over there in the past week. My husband is over there also with the 48th and is apart of the unit these guys were all from. I pray every day for his safe return and the return of all the others that are putting their lives on the line for our freedom. Please watch over the men and bring them all home safe to their families that miss them more each day than the last
By SSG C
August 3, 2005 11:31 AM | Link to this
Ms. Basu,
I listened to your report on ABC’S World News Tonight. Don’t ever speak for the 48th Brigade soldiers. You have no idea what we think… what we feel… what we have done. Just because you spoke with a few soldiers who never thought we would be deployed to Iraq doesn’t give you the right to go on National Television and be our voice to the Nation. We have been deployed 3 times in the last 5 years.( Bosnia, G-8, Iraq ) Most of the soldiers know the dangers, know the risks, know what’s on the line… and we still leave the gate and do the job right. That’s what we do… we are soldiers… Proud Americans…. Proud Georgians. I can say this because I am living this war… I have patrolled the streets of Mahmudiyah/Yusifiyah/Lutifiyah. The days of hurricane duty are long gone. But you wouldn’t know that because you haven’t been in country long enough to know anything about all of the soldiers in the 48th. Stay in your lane. Report what you see, we don’t need an agenda-based journalist on this mission. We are encouraged to be respectful of the media’s role in our mission. This will change if our voice is represented by a reporter with an agenda. I am on leave, and will be returning to Iraq soon. Be specific…. so and so said this…. his words…his voice…not the Brigade’s voice.
To the families of the the fallen and the injured soldiers….. I will not forget them… Everytime I leave the gate… they are in my thoughts…and I will fight for them always.
SSG C.
By Jim
August 3, 2005 12:44 PM | Link to this
How can our commander-in-chief take a five week vacation when our men and women are putting their lives on the line in Iraq every single minute? Staying in Washington during the month of August may not be much fun, but it’s a lot easier than being in Bagdad. My sincere condolences to all those who have lost loved ones in this recent attack.
By William Kitchens
August 3, 2005 12:58 PM | Link to this
May God Bless our troops and keep them safe. May he comfort them and their families always. May his peace surround the troops that sacrifice their lives for the pursuit of freedom.
By Mrs. Walton
August 3, 2005 03:27 PM | Link to this
I had the privilidge of getting to know SSg.Anderson, my husband is in the same unit…I cant imagine what his family is going through right now. I pray all the time that God keeps everyone safe and brings them home..May the Lord bless you keep you safe….When my husband called to tell me i was flooded with emotions and i just kept picturing Anderson waiting in the car with his wife,getting ready for a weekend leave….All of you guys are so BRAVE..Love to you all..
Proud wife of SPC.Robert Walton
By Dot Calhoun
August 3, 2005 04:55 PM | Link to this
Please dont print personal attacks on our Commander in Chief or any other person of any party in this section. Save it for the prayers and sympathy that we all feel for these brave men and their families, and the pain that the people who know and love them try to send to them. May God Bless and keep you all.. you are what makes this country great and all America is so very proud and grateful.
By Jen Morrison
August 3, 2005 11:07 PM | Link to this
My condolences go out to all the families of the eight men lost. Many of my friends that went to my school are now serveing in the 48th inculding my boyfriend who was the platoon leader of SSC. Victor Anderson and the other seven soldiers. I pray for all of our guys in iraq. I was and still am not a supporter of this war but i do fully support our soldiers. I cant in any way imagine what the families of these men are going through, i can ony imagine how i would feel if i recieved the phone call saying that someone i care about has died. I can only hope that the rest of our guys come home safe.
By sandra moore
August 4, 2005 05:29 AM | Link to this
I have read the comments about these fine troops dying for “a just cause” and to “keep our freedom”, but I wince as I read these naive and obedient comments.
If Bush had been wiser and not squandered these fine men and all this tax payer money on attacking Iraq, our freedom would not have been diminished.
This is a delusion promoted by Bush so that he does not have to resign in disgrace for his dishonest disaster.
I am amazed at how American adults obediently parrot the trite propaganda talking points of Bush as if they are obedient children.
The truth is Bush lied us into Iraq and has callously and criminally thrown away the lives of so many of our finest young people.
It’s about time Americans acted like thinking adults and smelled the coffee.
By Michael Castagna
August 4, 2005 08:48 AM | Link to this
My prayers are with the families of the recent deaths of soldiers from the 48th Bde.
By wanda
August 4, 2005 10:30 AM | Link to this
Victor you will always be remembered for all the great things you accomplished in your life. You were always full of laughter and smiles. Never heard anything negative from you.
By MARY
August 4, 2005 11:43 AM | Link to this
I for one..am “smelling the coffee”. I as an American think that we should take these people who continue to dash insults to our country and help them to go find another country that they think is so much better then the one we live in. Some of these comments I have read made me think that if there were a draft they would run off to Canada.
I thank all our soldiers who are in the military. Thank you for protecting us and keeping us FREE. Thank you for your sacrifice. My heart goes out to the families who have received the devastating news of a lost loved one. I pray every day for your safe return. May God bless you all!!
By James
August 4, 2005 12:08 PM | Link to this
If I may, please allow me to add one more from the bottom of my heart condolences to the families of the 48th. I did not know your loved ones, but as the father of a young man in the army myself, may God be with you. Keep strong, keep the memories alive so the brave ones we lost can live on forever.
By Rodney K. Brown
August 5, 2005 09:29 AM | Link to this
To Sandra Moore on August 4th… It’s people like you that make me the most mad. Would you like for us to fight this fight in the Wal Mart Shopping center near you? You would probably be critizing the President then for not doing something sooner. Look…My son and alot of sons and daughters are over there trying to stop all this. It’s because of their fight that [people] like you can voice your opinion. Please take that opinion and just sit on it and let the rest of us take care of this terrible problem for you.
By pulaski
August 5, 2005 10:04 AM | Link to this
Prayer is ok and all. But actions have a better track record. Get those neocons out of power, stop fighting wars instigated by pro-Israel supremecists, and bring the boys and girls home.
God helps those who help themselves.
By Rachel
August 5, 2005 10:05 AM | Link to this
Between this story and Bob Herbert’s piece about the wounded Spec 4th Class Gonzales, I’m starting my day weeping. But I am glad to have a specific community and family and person to grieve with, instead of an abstract number. I am praying for all those who are grieving losses from this terrible situation. I want to encourage readers to learn about worthy organizations that it would do our souls good to support- (while soul searching about our priorities) One such organization I just found out about is Fisher House, which provides housing near VA hospitals for families of service people undergoing long rehabilitation for serious injuries- (like the Ronald McDonald Houses, which have been a blessing for many a family whose loved one is hospitalized too far from home for a day visit). Their operations are expanding. In memory of the fallen, it seems fitting to seek in such ways to Really support their comrades with deeds,not just yellow ribbons. I suspect it is what Sgt. Anderson would want as a tribute.
By Julie
August 5, 2005 10:24 AM | Link to this
This is for Rodney Brown. Thanks for voicing your displeasure to Ms. Moore. I believe that the majority of true, patriotic and rational Americans agree with you. Thank you for your sacrifice and may your son and the others serving our still great country be covered by the Hand of God. Thank you to all our service personnel, past and present, who have made the sacrifice for me to be able to say that.
By regina
August 5, 2005 10:36 AM | Link to this
I WOULD LIKE TO SAY TO SANDRA MOORE THAT I’M SO THANKFUL FOR MY SOLDIER SON. AND IF YOU HAVE A LOVE ONE IN THE SERVICE!!!!!I’M ALSO THANKFUL THAT THEY HAVE MY SON AND OTHER SOLDIERS WATCHING THEIR BACKS-BECAUSE YOU SURE ARE NOT WATCHING. MAY THE LORD GUIDE OUR SOLDIERS. I PRAY THEY DON’T SEE THE COMMENTS SOME PEOPLE MAKE. THANKS TO ALLLLLLLLLL OF OUR SOLDIERS. LOVE YOU ALL. A PROUD AND THANKFUL MILITARY MOM.
By Allen
August 5, 2005 12:23 PM | Link to this
To Sandra Moore and Pulaski, I thank GOD!!!! that your kind didn’t live during World War II. Your tired old “Bush Lied, People Died” ramble is getting old. It is soooo 2003. You people make me sick and I pray that if ever anyone is deported, you are first on the gang-plank. Obviously you two have never given one flip about this country, otherwise you would be proud of our soldiers and the work they are doing. My brother is in Iraq, and he informs me all the time that people like you are wrong and they are doing a good thing there. You are pathetic and I pray that you find a plane to China soon so you can live your life in the type of gov. you so obviously love.
By Gerald Hicks
August 7, 2005 03:46 AM | Link to this
Apparently, some people are unable to separate the errors of our politicians from the sacrifices of our military personnel. They feel as if a protest again their leaders is a protest against the soldiers.
Nothing could be further from the truth. One helps our soldiers when one protests against invalid policy that is taking their lives and limbs.
I will invite each of you who favor this sort of government to take your leaders (Democrat and Republican alike) and find another country to worship them in. We don’t need you or have room for you in our republic.
This fine republic has a constitution and the current government has undermined it nearly completely with their futile, irresponsible, and criminal deployment of the miltary into this Iraq tragedy.
We have reached a constitutional crisis people. It is time to bring our sons and daughters home.
A military father…
Gerald Hicks.
By Sgt Allen F Gaskill
August 8, 2005 12:57 PM | Link to this
I grew up in “Vick” and, my younger brothers all went to school with him at Tri.Co. High ,,,as did I . We met again just before deployment ,shared sometime and went on with the busy work of being soldiers . Vick set a standard and I just hope that all still here continue to follow that , he is missed and will be for time to come…Sgt Allen F Gaskill Jr.
By Renee Cobb
August 9, 2005 03:43 PM | Link to this
For those who have doubt as to why our men and women are in Iraq they are doing their JOB and RESPECTED what their boss asked! In this country non military citizens have become so defiant, disrespectful and “I” oriented that we have forgotten what “old school” lessons have given us. OUR FREEDOM! Anderson and I are the same age and I believe he was raised with respect, integrity, morals, honesty,and descency. Bless the USA because of our service men and women. Thank you for giving of yourselves and taking away time with your families. Oh, yeh last I knew the job for cheif and commander will be up in another year or so. I am sure applications can be obtained. It is great to be a citizen of the USA!
By Tina K. Anderson
August 9, 2005 11:04 PM | Link to this
I graduated from high school with Victor Anderson as did a previous emailer, Allen Gaskill. Victor was always a kind, wonderful person. I know his family and I keep them in my prayers. I am so sorry for their pain. All of the members of the 48th are in my prayers.
By Joseph Castongia
August 10, 2005 02:23 PM | Link to this
Victor was my BEST friend, an irreplacable guy. For over 11 years we served together in the 48th, he was a Brother to me. Vic loved the military, and he was great at it. Southwest Georgia and its citizens will forever miss Victor Anderson. Vic, God Bless You!……Joe
By B.Y.
August 16, 2005 12:40 PM | Link to this
I got to know Vic while he was working in law enforcement. I remember Vic as a caring and loyal individual who was determined to do his part to make our community and our world a better place. I was stunned when I found out that he had paid the ultimate price. I never thought something like this would happen to Vic as he was always so full of life. My thoughts and prayers are with Vic’s family and with all of the families of the 48th. God Bless, Vic will be missed.