Retired Marine Col. Tim Anderson thought he may never attend another Marine Corps birthday bash. But, on Tuesday, Nov. 10, on the 245th anniversary of the Corps, the party came to him.
At about 11:15 a.m., his wife of 41 years, Colleen, suggested he might want to check the front yard of their Yorba Linda home. She followed him out as he navigated his wheelchair to the path right below his front steps.
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Ret. Marine Col. Tim Anderson gets a surprise outside his Yorba Linda home on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 Marines and police officers honored him and celebrated the Corps 245 birthday. Anderson, also a former police officer with LAPD, has ALS. Joining him is his wife Colleen, R.K. Miller with the Orange Police Department, from left, his daughter Kristen Anderson and LT. Marcus Sprague with the Santa Rosa police department. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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An Glendale chopper cruises over Ret. Marine Col. Tim Anderson’s Yorba Linda home on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 in honor of him and the Corps 245 birthday. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Ret. Marine Col. Tim Anderson gets a surprise outside his Yorba Linda home on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Marines and police officers honored him and celebrated the Corps 245 birthday. Anderson, also a former police officer with LAPD, has ALS. He and his wife Colleen watch as the LAPD flies over with the Marine Corps flag. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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The Marine Corps color guard gets ready to surprise Ret. Marine Col. Tim Anderson outside his Yorba Linda home on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Ret. Marine Col. Tim Anderson gets an emotional surprise outside his Yorba Linda home on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Marines and police officers honored him as they also celebrated the Corps 245 birthday. Anderson, who has ALS, is with his wife Colleen and daughter Kristen. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Ret. Marine Col. Tim Anderson gets a surprise outside his Yorba Linda home on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Marines and police officers honored him and celebrated the Corps 245 birthday. Anderson, also a former police officer with LAPD, has ALS. He and his wife Colleen watch as the LAPD flies over with the Marine Corps flag. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Ret. Marine Col. Tim Anderson gets an emotional surprise outside his Yorba Linda home on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Marines and police officers honored him as they also celebrated the Corps 245 birthday. Anderson, who has ALS, is with his wife Colleen. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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An LAPD chopper cruises over Ret. Marine Col. Tim Anderson’s Yorba Linda home on Tuesday, November 10, 2020, in honor of him and the Corps 245 birthday. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Ret. Marine Col. Tim Anderson gets a surprise outside his Yorba Linda home on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Marines and police officers honored him and celebrated the Corps 245 birthday. Anderson, also a former police officer with LAPD, has ALS. Joining him is his wife Colleen, left, who gets emotional while watching a flyover, and his daughter Kristen Anderson. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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A caravan of LAPD officers gets ready to surprise Ret. Marine Col. and former police officer Tim Anderson at his Yorba Linda home on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Ret. Marine Col. Tim Anderson gets an emotional surprise outside his Yorba Linda home on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Marines and police officers honored him as they also celebrated the Corps 245 birthday. Anderson, who has ALS, is with his wife Colleen and surrounded by Marine veterans as they get ready to cut a birthday cake. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Ret. Marine Col. Tim Anderson is surrounded by the Color Guard as they get ready to cut a cake honoring the Corps 245 birthday on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. The tradition is to have the oldest marine and the youngest Marine, left, take part in the cutting. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Sid Heal, left, who served with Ret. Marine Col. Tim Anderson in the ANGLICO Marine Reserve Unit, helps him cut the Marine Corps 245th birthday cake on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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The LAPD K-9 unit takes a portrait with Ret. Marine Col. and former police officer, Tim Anderson, outside his Yorba Linda home on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Marines and police officers honored Anderson and also celebrated the Corps 245 birthday. Anderson has ALS. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
There on his front lawn were more than 100 Marines, Marine veterans and police officers representing the Los Angeles Police Department, the Glendale Police Department and the California Association of Tactical Officers.
Anderson, 77, who four years ago was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, was overcome. Tears trickled down his cheeks.
“I had no idea,” he said. Colleen Anderson had asked her husband to accompany her to the dentist and then for a smoothie at a favorite place in Laguna Beach.
“I was flabbergasted. I’m seeing guys here from my entire career that came down here,” he said. “Some of the guys I haven’t seen for 30 years. I’m just overwhelmed.”
The event – which included the traditional cake-cutting ceremony – not only celebrated the Marine Corps birthday, but was also a commemoration of Veterans Day. To those who turned out, Anderson is the ultimate veteran and hero – a man who selflessly served his country and its people throughout his life.
Just out of college at San Jose State, Anderson joined the Air Force, serving in the Office of Special Investigation at the tail-end of the Vietnam War. After the war, he joined the Marine Corps Reserves in 1978.
Anderson earned the bronze star while serving in Vietnam and later, the Legion of Merit, a rarely awarded medal for exceptionally meritorious service, during his 30 years as a Marine.
Among his most significant roles was commander of the 3rd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO). With that company, Anderson deployed around the world. He was in charge of planning, strategy and assignments for Marines who worked with, or in front of, forward troops. He oversaw teams on multiple special operations, always working with allied and coalition forces.
ANGLICO Marines are best known for their ability to control close air support, they are equally well trained to employ ground and sea-based fires, including cannon artillery, rocket artillery, precision-guided munitions and naval gunfire support.
Anderson followed that by taking leadership of the 4th Light Armored Infantry Battalion at Camp Pendleton.
Anderson was also a parachutist with about 120 jumps in all conditions and climates, including over the jungle and the arctic, into water, at night and loaded with combat equipment. He was the highest-ranking qualified and active jump master in the Marine Corps at the rank of lieutenant colonel during his service time.
Sid Heal, 70, of LaVerne, one of the celebration organizers, has known Anderson for more than 40 years. He served under Anderson as a chief warrant officer in the 3rd ANGLICO.
To Heal, Anderson’s leadership ability stands out.
“If you busted your butt, he’d do anything for you,” Heal said. “But if you weren’t trying or performing, you were gone.”
Tom Latsko, who also served under Anderson, agreed.
“His level of enthusiasm inspired every Marine he comes into contact with,” he said. “He influenced how I lead Marines in my own career.”
But the Marine Reserves weren’t the only place Anderson served. He went to work for the Los Angeles Police Department in 1971.
“SWAT was a highlight for him; it was like the Marine Corps, it’s the elite unit,” said Susan Hand, Anderson’s daughter, who now works for the Army in the Pentagon. “Not everyone gets into SWAT.”
He also supervised the Metropolitan Division’s K-9 unit.
LAPD K-9 Officer Steve Carnevale was among those honoring Anderson on Tuesday. With him came Don, a Belgian Malinois.
“He was my first sergeant in 1998,” Carnevale said. “He was a true leader who went on searches with us. It was refreshing for me to have a Marine as a supervisor. He observed every detail. Everything he did was done in the correct manner.”
For at least a decade, Anderson was consumed with both jobs, seemingly working non-stop.
“He worked insane hours,” Hand said, adding that her father would sleep in the closet during the day because it was the only place he could get quiet. “When I graduated from high school, my dad got into our car. I was surprised because every other time, he had to take his own car because he might get a call.”
For Hand, her father was a role model and mentor.
“He was a huge part in everything I did,” she said. “The direction I went in my life was because of my dad. I want to emulate him.”
Neither she, her younger sister or their mother was surprised by Tuesday’s outpouring.
In addition to active duty Marines and Marine veterans, dozens in the group came from LAPD SWAT and K-9 units and the Glendale Police Department, where Anderson last worked before he became ill.
A parade of LAPD K-9 vehicles, a Marine Color Guard and flyovers by LAPD and Glendale police helicopters passed the house – the Marine Corp flag hung from the Glendale bird. The group belted out the Marine Corps Hymn and Anderson was presented with a Certificate for Appreciation of Service from the nearby Nixon Presidential Library & Museum.
The cutting of the Marine Corps birthday cake was among the day’s highlights. Traditionally, the first piece is presented to the oldest Marine present and the second to the youngest.
In Tuesday’s ceremony, Anderson, as the guest of honor, was given the first piece, then Joe Deladurantey, 78, a retired Marine Corps sergeant, took the first bite and Marine Sgt. Jakebrainer Saoit, 26, from the Marine Corps Recruiting Station Westminster, took the second piece.
“It was pretty phenomenal,” said Heal as the celebration was winding down. “It was completely spontaneous. It started with us old guys deciding to give Col. Anderson the last hurrah. It went from two guys to 10 and then 50, and then it hit the wires, and everybody wanted to do something.
“There wasn’t a lot of command and control,” Heal said. “This comes from the esteem everybody has held him in.”
R.K. Miller, another of the organizers and a Marine veteran who is now a reserve police officer with Orange Police Department, said he also wasn’t surprised by the turnout.
“You look at his track record in the Marine Corps and law enforcement,” he said. “He’s certainly worthy of it. Everybody consistently talks about his heroism.”
Anderson’s heroism then and now is what stands out most to his wife.
“Tim was, and is still, a force of nature,” she said, watching lines of veterans form to share a word with her husband. “You wouldn’t believe his courage through all this. Never once saying, ‘Why me?’ This man is my hero.”
“This is what his life has been about,” she added. “He’s done this for everyone else. All these men are so special. They’re all unique and such good men. This brotherhood, the Marines, the police, this is what it is all about.”
In the end, Anderson could no longer find the words to express his emotions.
“I can hardly talk, I’m just so overwhelmed,” he said. “This is the best Marine Corps birthday I ever attended. I never imagined I’d have another Marine Corps celebration.”
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