PRIVATE FIRST CLASS
JAMES ANDERSON Jr., USMC (DECEASED)

Medal of Honor Citation

Private First Class James Anderson, Jr., who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam in February 1967, was born 22 January 1947, in Los Angeles, California, and graduated from Carver Elementary School there in 1958. Then he attended Willowbrook Junior High School and Centennial Senior High School at Compton, California. After graduating from senior high school, he attended Los Angeles Harbor Junior College for a year and a half.

Private Anderson left college to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps on 17 February 1966 and received recruit training with the 1st Recruit Training Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California. He was promoted to private first class upon graduation from recruit training in August 1966.

Transferred to Camp Pendleton, California, he received further training with the 2d Battalion, 2d Infantry Training Regiment.

In December 1966, Private Anderson arrived in the Republic of Vietnam, where he served as a rifleman with Company F, 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, 3d Marine Division in Quang Tri Province. On 28 February 1967 he was mortally wounded.

A complete list of his medals and decorations includes: the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze star, the Vietnamese Military Merit Medal, the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Vietnam Medal of Honor