Major Rudolf Anderson Jr.

1
Major Rudolf Anderson Jr.

• Emily
• JN
• Sharita

2
Education

• Rudolf Anderson graduated from Greenville High in
  1944.
• He went on to Clemson University, and graduated
  in 1948 with a textile degree.
• While at Clemson, he served in the Air Force
  ROTC.
• By the end of his senior year, he had earned a
  position on Clemsons Senior Platoon.

3
Accomplishments

• Rudolf Anderson was the only casualty of the
  Cuban Missile Crisis.
• Before his death on the last day of flights,
  Anderson took aerial photos of the missile sights
  in Cuba which could have brought the US into a
  nuclear war with the USSR.
• It is believed that Andersons death may have
  been the thing that stopped Khrushchev from
  firing the missiles, preventing a potential war.
• He joined the air force in 1951, served in the
  Korean War and earned two Distinguished Flying
  Cross citations while in service
• Anderson was also given a Purple Heart, the first
  ever Air Force Cross, and the highest peacetime
  award, the Distinguished Service Medal, for his
  heroic service in Cuba.

4
The Day of His Death

• The day of Andersons death is known as Black
  Sunday. It was the 12th day of the Cuban
  Missile Crisis, October 27, 1962.
• His flight was originally to be cancelled, but he
  argued to go ahead and was shot down over the
  eastern tip of Cuba.
• Anderson left behind a wife, two sons, and a
  daughter

5
Memorials

• In honor of Rudolf Anderson, a memorial was put
  up in Cleveland Park in Greenville. The plane
  used was the one he flew in Korea, as U-2 planes
  that were flown over Cuba were unavailable.
• There are several other memorials to him in
  Greenville as well as an annual service in his
  honor. There is also a memorial to him in Cuba.
• The movie, Thirteen Days, depicts his heroic
  flight and death

6
Newspaper Article

•   Dan Foster, retired sports editor of The
  Greenville News, was apersonal friend of Rudolf
  Anderson Jr., the only American casualty ofthe
  Cuban Missile Crisis.By Dan Foster  Seeing
  the current movie "Thirteen Days" about the Cuban
  MissileCrisis brought back both pleasant and sad
  memories about Rudolf AndersonJr. He was not
  only the single casualty of that showdown between
  theU.S. and Soviet Union, he was a hero to many,
  including the latePresident Kennedy.    This
  is not impersonal. Rudy was a friend, a native
  Greenvillian, ateammate on the Buncombe Street
  Methodist Church softball team of thelate 1940s.
  And, as the U.S. Air Force decided, a pilot and
  officer ofskills high above the norm.   
  Pilots chosen to fly the exotic U-2 spy plane
  were an elite group.Their missions required
  special skills, extraordinary courage and a
  deepsense of responsibility in the protection of
  their country.    It was aerial photos that
  Rudy and another U-2 pilot made inmid-October
  1962 that convinced Kennedy and his advisers that
  the SovietUnion had put offensive missiles into
  Cuba.    The movie portrays the keen anxieties
  and hurried discussions theKennedy circle had
  before the administration's decision to tell
  NikitaKhrushchev to remove the missiles. That
  was joined with a blockade ofCuba, which
  appeared then and now as the closest the world
  has come toWorld War III.  

  Oct. 27, Rudy's family was informed that he was
missing. That wasnational headline news. His
family here knew nothing more for four days.Then
on Oct. 31, U Thant, acting secretary general of
the United Nationson a peace-seeking trip to
Cuba, told the world that Fidel Castro
wouldallow Rudy's body to be returned to the
United States.    That was when his father,
mother and other family members learned aCuban
weapon had shot him down.    I had not seen
Rudy since May 1956. On an Air Force Reserve trip
toAlaska our plane was grounded at Larson Air
Force Base, Wash., whereRudy was an F-86 jet
fighter pilot with the Strategic Air
Command.That's the type of plane that now serves
as a memorial to him nearCleveland Park.    He
felt he had that Saturday in Washington off and
suggested threeof us go fishing in one of those
rich lakes near Spokane.    But SAC pilots had
known for a long time that their time was
notalways  their own, and Rudy was put on alert
status, insisting that twoof us take his car and
fishing equipment, which we did.    Later that
weekend he came over to our room at the air base
and in aleisurely discussion I asked when he was
going to get out of the AirForce.
7
Newspaper Article

•     A later Kennedy message was that he did not
  want to send flowersthat overshadowed those of
  the family, and the family asked that he betold
  of their appreciation for his help and concern
  and whatever flowershe sent would be
  appreciated.    Rudy's wife, Jane, was pregnant
  at that time, and Air Forceofficials advised
  Barnick that when they flew her and many others
  fromLaughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, Texas,
  that blue staff cars couldnot be used for ground
  transportation.    Jane, who later remarried,
  died in the early 1980s. But in theaftermath of
  Rudy's death, an Air Force spokesman said she
  becamehysterical when a staff car was
  involved.    That problem was solved when Bill
  Baker, a teammate of Rudy's on thechurch
  softball team, a longtime friend and a Plymouth
  dealer here,volunteered a dozen new Plymouths to
  be at the base when Jane's flightarrived.   
  Gen. Thomas Power, the four-star commander of
  SAC, attended theservice at Woodlawn and
  presented Rudy's widow and mother with U.S.flags
  from atop the casket.    Power's presence
  became a mission unto itself. Advance SAC
  partiescame to determine where, even at
  Woodlawn, Power would not be more thana minute
  away from contact with the Pentagon and his
  headquarters inNebraska.    Although those
  were nervous times, they were made considerably
  lessso by the Rudolf Anderson missions. And
  while the "Thirteen Days" moviespent little time
  on Anderson's role, in real life John Kennedy
  made nosecret that he and the world owed a huge
  debt of gratitude to Rudy.

•     "Get out? Man, I'd do what I'm doing for
  nothing, and they pay me."    Not nearly on the
  scale that he would pay them back six years
  later.    Although the Anderson part of
  "Thirteen Days" is brief, it conveyedthe same
  appraisal Jack Kennedy had in real life. That was
  that Rudy'slegacy was an enormous factor in
  avoiding all-out war.    After his body was
  flown to Florida, then to Washington, D.C.,
  itwas flown with an escort to Donaldson Air
  Force Base in Greenville onNov. 5 for later
  burial in Woodlawn Memorial Park. The plane
  thatbrought him to Greenville was one of the
  three designated Air ForceOnes.    That was a
  fine gesture by President Kennedy but not a
  surprise tothose who knew what had gone on in
  those four days since Rudy wasdeclared
  missing.    After Rudy's death was confirmed,
  Kennedy had his military aide callCol. Roland
  Barnick, commander at Donaldson, to ask if
  Barnick hadcommunicated with Rudy's family.
  Barnick told Washington that he hadsent a letter
  saying how proud he was to have a man such as
  Rudy as afellow Air Force officer and said the
  letter told the family that thebase stood ready
  to help them in any way possible.

8
Works Cited

• GHS Wall of Fame
• http//www.af.mil/history/spotlight.asp?storyID12
  300950920
• http//www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?pagegrG
  Rid7553231
• http//www.clemson.edu/military/anderson.html
• The Greenville News