After Pearl Harbor Attack Separated Them, Two Minnesota Brothers Will Rest Together Wednesday

Governor Mark Dayton has proclaimed Wednesday, Dec. 7 as Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in Minnesota, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the more than 2,400 Americans who lost their lives in these attacks. One of those Americans was Navy soldier Jake Anderson of western Minnesota.

Jake was among the 1,177 sailors and Marines from the battleship who died, the Duluth News Tribune reported.

John Anderson, Jake's twin brother, also a Navy soldier, somehow survived the bloody attack that day. Throughout his life, John carried the guilt of not being able to find his brother, whose body was never recovered from the ship where he was last seen.

Now, in death, the pair of brothers from Minnesota will be reunited. John died in November of last year at the age of 98. On Wednesday, John’s ashes will be interred underwater in the remnants of his old turret, rejoining his brother, the Washington Post reported.

"This is what John would want. I want to do that for John, and Jake. It’s very sad for me, but I’m honoring his wishes and his memory," Karolyn Anderson, John's wife, told the Duluth News Tribune.

"For years, John was hesitant to even talk about Jake. He always carried a guilt burden that he couldn't get Jake. And finally one day, I said 'John, you never really mention Jake; why is that?' And he said. 'I always felt funny that I lived and he didn’t. I always wondered why I was spared and he wasn't.' He just felt like he let himself down, and Jake down as well as the rest of the family."

All U.S. flags and Minnesota flags be flown at half-staff at all state and federal buildings in Minnesota from sunrise until sunset on Wednesday, in honor and remembrance of those who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor and those who sacrificed their lives in World War II.

Image via Bernard Spragg. NZ, Flickr, used under Creative Commons