MORGAN PARK — Ken Anderson said his reception Wednesday was far more uplifting than what he received upon his return from the Korean War.
"I never saw anyone when I came home in 1953," said Anderson, a resident of the Smith Village retirement community in Morgan Park.
Anderson was among nearly 100 participants of Honor Flight Chicago, which took a commercial airplane full of 108 military veterans free of charge from Midway Airport to Washington DC. The passengers were greeted with loud applause both as they departed and returned.
Ken Anderson's children greeted their father and Korean War veteran Wednesday at Midway Airport. His children (from left) include Ken, Mark and Terry Anderson as well as Jamie Galeher. [Photo by Smith Village]
Anderson served as an electrician on the USS Green Fish SS351 for three years. At one point, the submarine surfaced for air only only at night in the North Pacific. Anderson and his fellow crew members saw no daylight for 59 days.
“When we finally came up, the sun was pretty bright,” said Anderson, 85, who originally hails from Grand Crossing and mostly worked on batteries in the room that maneuvered the sub.
Anderson moved into Smith Village at 2320 W. 113th St. in 2014. He and his late wife, Doreen “Pat” Anderson, raised their family in West Beverly. The pair briefly lived in Oak Lawn after Ken Anderson's retirement in 1991. He has 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
He worked as an electrician after his stint on the sub stationed at Pearl Harbor. For 30 years, Anderson maintained the city's movable bridges that span the Chicago and Calumet rivers.
St. Christina Catholic School students (from left) Patrick Galeher, Jack Voss, Mark Erdmann and Ryan Flynn welcome Smith Village resident Ken Anderson, a Korean War veteran, at Midway Airport following his trip to Washington, DC, with Honor Flight Chicago. Galeher is Anderson’s grandson. [Photo by Smith Village]
Anderson and his fellow veterans visited various landmarks Wednesday in Washington DC. He was most impressed by the Korean War Veterans Memorial. Located near the Lincoln Memorial, it commemorates the sacrifices of the 5.8 million Americans who served in the U.S. armed services during the three-year war.
The memorial was dedicated on July 27, 1995 and features 19 stainless steel statues sculpted by Frank Gaylord. The statues stand in patches of Juniper bushes and are separated by polished granite strips, which give a semblance of order and symbolize the rice paddies of Korea.
"They looked real," he said.
Anderson graduated from St. Rita High School and opted to enlist rather than take his chances getting drafted. He said he chose to work in a submarine because he felt it offered him the best opportunity to survive the war.
"It's something you are happy you did, but you wouldn't be happy to do it again," he said of his time in the military.
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