TAMPA, Fla. — More than 66 years after Airman Isaac W. Anderson was killed in a military plane crash that also took the lives of 51 others, his remains returned home Thursday.
- Long wait began on November 22, 1952
- Transport plane carrying Airman Anderson crashed into Mt. Gannett in Alaska
- Wreck found in 2012 by Army National Guard team on training mission
- More Good News stories
“I’m like a kid in a candy store right now. I’m excited inside. I’ve been up since 2:30 this morning,” said Anderson’s granddaughter, Tonja Anderson-Dell. “I started this in 1999 thinking that I’d never get to this day.”
Anderson-Dell and other family members were on the tarmac to greet the plane transporting her grandfather’s remains back to Tampa.
It was the end of a long wait that began on November 22, 1952. That was the day Anderson’s transport plane heading to Anchorage crashed into Mount Gannett in Alaska.
His only son, Isaac W. Anderson, Jr., was just a year old at the time. Anderson, Jr. is Anderson-Dell’s father.
“We always had that family story that I had a grandfather who went missing," Anderson-Dell explained. "I’m that nosy child, so I got a chance to do some research."
Bringing the fallen home
She said she researched the crash and contacted the Air Force and anyone she thought could help with starting a recovery effort.
Finally, in 2012, an Army National Guard team on a training mission found the wreck.
“They spotted something on the glacier, and it happened to be some stuff that was able to tell them it was about the plane,” said Anderson-Dell.
Teams have worked every year since to bring back what they could of the service members' remains and the plane. Anderson-Dell said before her grandfather’s she’d attended services for 23 of the fallen service members.
“Each time, it’s very emotional because these soldiers died," she said. "To see them actually coming home and talk to their families, it is a bittersweet moment."
Now, it’s her family’s turn.
A lasting impact
Anderson was just 22 years old when he died.
Anderson-Dell said he joined the U.S. Air Force to serve his country, but also to provide for his family. Her father was only a year old when Anderson died, and her grandmother passed away before she could see her husband’s remains return home.
Still, Anderson-Dell said her grandfather had an impact on her family. She said his military service directly inspired her father to join the Navy and her brother to sign up for the Army. Then, of course, there’s the affect his life – and death – had on her.
“It’s closure,” she said of the homecoming. “For me, I get a chance to actually see the fruit of my labor."
"That is what this means for me," she continued. "For the other 12 families who are still waiting, I stand here and I tell them I will continue to keep fighting. Just because my grandfather came home doesn’t mean I’ll stop fighting for those remaining 12 to come home.”