Today as we honor and remember those that served, I can’t think of words that can do it better than those below. Christopher ‘Doc’ Anderson was a Navy Corpsman serving with the Marine infantry. He was my cousin and my little brother. His father was a Navy Seal and his brother Kyle continues to work tirelessly in volunteer efforts to support families of our servicemen. He was killed during a mortar attack in Ramadi, Iraq on December 4th, 2005 and laid to rest at Arlington on December 30th. Below is an excerpt from Jim Sheeler’s “Final Salute”, a series of articles that appeared in the Rocky Mountain News honoring our fallen and their families.
A father's salute
After everyone else climbed into their cars and prepared to leave, Rick Anderson stood with Kyle at the gravesite.
The two men put their handprints in the dirt, and smeared it around. -Kyle Anderson didn't want to leave the casket, and, once again, it fell to his father to convince him to go.
For the past three weeks, Rick Anderson had been the quiet rock, steadying his family, comforting them, looking out for everyone, the way he had taught his son to do, the way his son was doing.
He spoke at his son's funeral in Longmont and said he cried long and hard during his private, personal conversations with God.
On the outside, with his friendly face and salt-and-pepper moustache, he looked more like the real estate salesman that he is, rather than a former member of one of the most elite special warfare units in the country.
But after all of the quiet, all of the stoicism, Rick Anderson stood at the empty gravesite, took a deep breath and let out a Navy SEAL war cry that carried over the headstones.
"HOOYAH, KID!" he shouted at his son's casket, his voice breaking.
"YOU DID GOOD.
Honor and Remembrance
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