Osmo Anderson
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Army
Osmo A. Anderson
Mr. Anderson entered the Army on September 19, 1941, at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Home at entry: Biwabik, Minnesota.
He served as a Cook and Mess Sergeant with Company A of the Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion. In February 1944, he boarded a Liberty troopship at Newport News, Virginia for a 28-day voyage to Naples, Italy.
In his words: "After five days no bread! I had to make bread for 600 men, nobody else knew how. Meat spoiled. Found it lying on the floor in the cooler. The ship was every which way except upside down. No water for baths, everybody sick. Latrines a mess."
"We stopped at Mt. Etna, then on to Naples, air raid that night. I could see my mother's kitchen and wished I was there. We moved to Volturno river area and set up our platoon for early warning radar for enemy planes. Set up camp at Crosteto on the beach and had a rest."
"Got to visited Rome and Pompeii...One of our platoons landed on D-Day in southern France. We went D-plus-30 and landed at St. Tropez, France. Traveled by convoy to Roseires and set up radar. This is when we got our Presidential Unit Citation. The Germans were shipping gold to Spain in US B-17 planes with crosses on the planes...Our pilot got five kills and he got shot down...We heard him say good-bye as his operator couldn''t bail out. March 1945 we crossed into Germany at Kaiserslauten and set up camp at Manheim where we stayed until the war was over."
Served in Northern and Southern France, Rhineland, Central Europe, and Rome-Arno in Italy.
He received the following: Good Conduct Medal, European-African-Middle East Campaign Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal and three overseas service bars.
He was honorably discharged on October 11, 1945, at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin.
Source: Hometown Heroes: The Saint Louis County World War II Project, page 21.
