>

After 57 years, the Medal of Honor heroism of Richard B. Anderson will be recognized in a Memorial Day ceremony in Port Angeles on Monday.

A Sequim High School graduate, Anderson was 22 when he grabbed a loose grenade and tucked it into his midsection just before it exploded during World War II.

He died protecting three other Marines in a 15-foot deep shell hole at the edge of a contested airfield on the South Pacific island of Roi Namur on Feb. 1, 1944.

Later that year, his family was presented with Anderson’s Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest battlefield honor.

A destroyer launched July 7, 1945, from a shipyard in Seattle was named the USS Richard B. Anderson.

This entire report appears in the Friday/Saturday editions of the Peninsula Daily News, on sale throughout Clallam and Jefferson counties. Or click on “Subscribe” to order your copy via U.S. mail.