When James Roy  Andersen’s plane went down in the Pacific the Air Force lost one of its best young officers, his family lost a loving and devoted husband and father, and his friends lost a comrade whose character and personality had made their lives better and brighter for having known him.

General Andersen was born in Racine, Wisconsin, May 10, 1904, the son of Niels and Inger Kerstine (Klausen) Andersen. He was graduated from Racine High School in 1922 and from the United States Military Academy four years later.

As a cadet Jimmie stood in the top fourth of his class. He was a crack athlete, starring especially in basketball and track. He was also one of our best handball and tennis players. Although he was not very tall and definitely not very heavy, he was fortunate in having the keen eye and muscular coordination which permitted him to excel in any sport where sheer size and weight did not particularly matter. He was also one of the handsomest men in the class and had a very pleasing and cheerful personality. He was always popular with the ladies, although it was thoroughly understood by all that there was a girl back home , whose picture was constantly on display in his room and with whom he corresponded regularly. This girl was Esther Katherine Hau, who came East from Racine, Wisconsin for Graduation Week, and to whom Jimmie was married shortly after graduation.

Jimmie was technically and mechanically inclined hut upon graduation, for reasons all his own, chose the Infantry. He was detailed in the Ordnance Department in 1930 and transferred to that branch in 1935. In his work at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Watertown Arsenal and Massachusetts Institute of Technology he showed great ability in solving many different kinds of technical problems by making use of his unusual imagination and knowledge of the principals involved. During his detail in the Ordnance Department he did considerable work with the Air Corps in airplane and armament maintenance. This service soon proved that his first love had really been for the flying service, as he flew wherever and whenever he could in the course of his duties and otherwise. This experience resulted in his ultimately being detailed as a student at the Air Corps Flying Schools at Randolph Field, Texas, for flying training. When he reported he was a First Lieutenant, but he was promoted to Captain shortly after his arrival. While at Randolph Field he pursued the course of primary flying and basic flying training. This class was made up of those graduates of the Military Academy of the class of 1935 and Flying Cadets. He was the senior member of his class and because of that and his magnetic personality, he was looked upon by his classmates as their leader. He won the respect and esteem not only of his classmates but of all instructors and permanent personnel at Randolph Field. He mastered the course in Flying Training and Ground School without any difficulty, and was graduated in 1937 as a full-fledged flyer.

In 1937 Jimmie was assigned to Luke Field, a newly promoted Captain recently assigned to the Air Corps. His approach to his flying activities was always one of care and involved the exercise of superior judgment. His skill as a pilot was never open to any question. There were many times when, due to his relatively high rank, he was called upon to lead formations in the 72nd Squadron to which he was assigned. The manner in which he handled these assignments won him the admiration and respect of pilots who had had considerably more flying experience than he. He quickly gained the complete admiration and respect not only of the younger and more experienced pilots but also of his commanding officer and of the men with whom he served. His congenial and likeable personality won him new friends with every new job assignment. His background of technical experience resulted in his ready assimilation of new technical matters in connection with his Air Corps assignments and many times resulted in an expedited resolution of the technical problems which confronted him.

It was here in Hawaii that he won the complete admiration, respect and confidence of the late Lieutenant General Millard F. Harmon, who commanded the group at Luke Field where Jimmie was first assigned.

On Jimmie’s return to the United States in 1939 he was assigned to duty at West Point, first in the Ordnance Department for one year and then for two years in the Department of Chemistry and Electricity. His fine technical mind and extensive technical training, coupled with his outstanding qualities of leadership embodied in a strong, forceful and pleasing personality, made him a superior instructor in both departments. At least one head of a department considered him qualified to be a Professor at the Academy. He remained on this duty until the spring of 1942 when he was assigned to Stewart Field as Director of Training at the Basic-Advanced Flying School for U.S.M.A. Cadets. Prior to his transfer to this duty he assisted materially in drawing up the plans for the construction of Stewart Field and the organization of it, and after his transfer he organized and implemented the flying training of the first class of Cadets of the Military Academy to receive flying training as Cadets. The flying training for the Cadets started shortly after the construction started. The facilities for the maintenance of equipment and for the holding of classes were very meager, but despite all handicaps he did a superior job in directing both the Flying Training and the Ground School for the Cadets. The success which he achieved was due to his superior leadership and intelligent planning. The multitudinous details which went with this assignment were taken by him in his stride. He never missed a one and always had the right answers. No matter how tough the going was, he always had a smile and a kind word for every one. He was recommended for the Legion of Merit for the superior job which he did on this assignment.

While on duty at West Point Jimmie took the Air Corps Tactical School course at Montgomery, Alabama, early in 1940. His approach to this course was characterized by his usual ardor and zeal in gaining all the information which would prepare him for the tasks which all realized lay ahead. His application to the long hours of classes, discussions and study was an excellent example to the rest of the students, who were sometimes prone to toss the books in the corner and go seek a bit of diversion. Jimmie finished the course at the Tactical School high on the list of merit, and from the manner in which lie applied his learning during the succeeding years it was apparent that his application to his studies had been well rewarded.

In 1943 Jimmie was transferred from Stewart Field to Washington for assignment to the Strategy Section of the Operations Division of the War Department General Staff. In this capacity he applied himself with sureness and vigor to the tasks of lending guidance to the progress of our forces in the conduct of World War II. His value as a competent staff officer in the difficult role of strategic planning was so well demonstrated that his superiors were loth to let him go to one of the theaters of war, and did so in the fall of 1944 only upon the frim assurance that by such a transfer he would gain a promotion which would otherwise be denied to him. It was at about this time that Millard F. Harmon, later a Lieutenant General and Theater Commander in the South Pacific Area, came to Washington looking for staff officers to build up his new staff in the Central Pacific Command, then known as Army Air Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas (A.A.F. P.O.A.). Having known Jimmie in Hawaii he sought him as his Chief of Staff, and, after considerable discussion with Jimmie’s superiors, finally succeeded in obtaining his release for the job. Jimmie reported to Hawaii about a month later and, as Chief of Staff of A.A.F.P.O.A., a major air command, was outstanding in succeeding to set up a smooth working staff in spite of great difficulties due to inadequate personnel, and to a most complex and complicated Army-Navy-Marine-Air Force command structure which existed in those days. One of the most important tasks of A.A.F.P.O.A., was to support preparation of the strategic bombing of Japan with B-29’s at the earliest date possible. With the fall of Marianas, the Joint Chiefs of Staff had made this the No. 1 project in the Pacific. In order to expedite these preparations and render all the support possible, General Harmon started preparations to move the operations staff of his headquarters to Guam as soon as facilities could be made ready. Jimmie was the principal planner and coordinator for the move of the staff, and was able to accomplish this in January 1945, at which time Headquarters A.A.F.P.O.A. was opened at Guam, the rear echelon only remaining in Hawaii. Due to Jimmie’s superb planning and execution, this move of a major headquarters 3,300 miles in the middle of active operations was accomplished without any major hitches of any sort. It was also in January 1945 that Jimmie was promoted to the grade of Brigadier General. He moved out with the advance echelon that same month and remained at Guam until he was lost a short time later.

In late February the Joint Chiefs of Staff called a meeting in Washington of the principal commanders in the Pacific, in order to complete plans for the final assault on Japan. Among those called to Washington at that time was Lieutenant General Harmon. In order to assist General Harmon in thorough preparation for the Washington conferences, it was decided that Jimmie would fly back with him to Hawaii, where additional material was available that was necessary at the Washington conferences, and that Jimmie would personally assist in the complete preparations prior to General Harmon’s departure for Washington a day or two later. On the morning of February 26 Jimmie left Guam with General Harmon in a staff airplane, an old B-24 which had been converted locally for staff use. General Harmon had a new C-54 assigned to him for his numerous and lengthy travels in the Pacific but, due to the shortage in the Air Transport Command itself, this airplane had not yet been delivered and he was continuing to use, in the meantime, the old B-24. The first leg of the journey from Guam to Kwajalein Island was completed successfully, and the usual stop for service and meals was made. The next leg of the journey was a direct flight from Kwajalein to Hawaii, and the take-off was made shortly after dark on the same day. At the first position report, some two hours later, the airplane was on course and everything was apparently operating satisfactorily. The next position report was somewhat garbled but there was no indication of any difficulty on board. That was the last report ever heard from this flight, because it disappeared some time thereafter without warning and no traces have ever been found of either the airplane or any of the personnel aboard. It is presumed that the airplane encountered some sudden emergency condition and either exploded or plunged into the sea, before any warning could be given or any safety measures could be taken by the crew. In the days that followed, the most extensive air search in history was executed over the area of the Pacific where this airplane may have been forced down. Reluctantly, the search was abandoned after about two weeks, with the hope still lurking in some minds that the airplane was blown off course and perhaps forced down near one of the many islands held by the Japanese in that part of the Pacific. After the cessation of hostilities, investigations in Japan itself indicated that the Japanese had not taken the party prisoners and did not know of their whereabouts. Consequently, no other conclusion was left than that General Harmon, Jimmie, and the entire party were lost in an airplane accident in the middle of the Pacific, and that their grave is the blue waters of the Pacific itself.

Thus, unfortunately, ended simultaneously the careers of two brilliant Air Force officers—the eider at the top and destined to remain there for a few years more—the younger just emerging into a position of prominence, with the top most certainly awaiting him in the following years. All who knew them are certain of the terrific loss this tragedy caused to the Service.

General Andersen is survived by his wife, Esther Katherine (Hau), to whom he was married on June 1, 1927; his daughter Nancy Jo, wife of Lieutenant Joe Holleman Warren, Jr., U.S.M.A. ‘46, and by his son, James Roy. Mrs. Andersen’s.