In Memoriam

Marine made sure family knew his love for them

They recall notes, visits from Sauk City man, killed in Afghanistan

By MEG JONES
Posted: March 23, 2006

Prairie du Sac - Last year, Nicholas Anderson forgot Mother's Day.

When he finally remembered, he sent his mother a note in a card adorned with a picture of a dog. In it he wrote that he felt bad for forgetting Mother's Day, but he wanted his mom to know he loved her.

A new Marine then stationed in Hawaii, Anderson also promised his mom he would return home one day.

On Thursday, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Anderson, 21, came home.

Speaking on behalf of Anderson's mother, Barbara, a family spokeswoman told the a crowd of several hundred mourners that the Mother's Day note, the last one Barbara Anderson would receive from her only son, summed up Nick's feelings about joining the Marines. In the note, he said, "I'm trying to live my life to the fullest and make my family proud."

Anderson, a 2003 Sauk City High School graduate and son of Sauk City Village President Jim Anderson, was killed March 13 in Afghanistan when the Humvee he was riding in overturned while patrolling near Jalalabad. Anderson's unit arrived in Afghanistan in January.

Thursday morning, Anderson's flag-draped casket was placed on the stage of the Sauk Prairie River Arts Center next to his beloved Fat Boy Harley- Davidson motorcycle, flowers and the symbol of a fallen military member - a helmet atop a rifle and a pair of desert combat boots. Outside the building next to the high school, several dozen Vietnam veterans stood along the walkway, holding large American flags.

Before the funeral, mourners lingered in front of several bulletin boards filled with photos of Anderson and his family - Nick holding a guitar, riding his bicycle, playing with his young nephew, horsing around with his buddies. Yearly school pictures showed a tousle-headed boy growing older, becoming a teenager and then a man.

One bulletin board was plastered with motorcycle pictures - Nick grinning in front of his new Harley, astride the gleaming Hog and hanging out with motorcycle friends. Anderson enjoyed riding with friends to Devils Lake, the Wisconsin Dells and the nearby Merrimac ferry, drinking in the summer smells of Lake Wisconsin, burning rubber and adrenaline, a friend said.

Through the family spokeswoman, his sister, Jessica Yanke, told the crowd that she and her brother got tattoos last year: the Chinese symbols for older sister and younger brother. His was on his right bicep, hers on her upper back.

Yanke, who is five years older than her brother, was apprehensive because she figured a tattoo would hurt. But she was surprised to find out there wasn't much pain.

"Then came Nick's turn. He almost passed out," said Yanke, who ribbed her only sibling for being wimpy. "I thought, 'Oh, boy, the big tough Marine.' "

Anderson loved being a Marine. He loved the uniform, the globe-eagle-anchor Marine insignia, the brotherhood and the pride that went with being a Marine.

"People like Nick are the best thing about the Marine Corps," his buddy, Lance Cpl. Justin Emery, said through the spokeswoman.

Yanke recalled how much her brother enjoyed being an uncle to her 2-year-old son, Ethan, and 1-year-old daughter, Ella. When he heard about Ella's birth, he rushed to the hospital from work so he could see his niece.

Anderson returned home in December to spend the holidays with his family in this pretty community on the shore of the Wisconsin River, known for attracting bird watchers who come to see the bald eagles feed each winter. He came home earlier than expected, surprising his delighted parents. They knew he would be shipping out to Afghanistan in a matter of days.

When it was time for Anderson to leave his home and his family to go back to the Marine base in Hawaii, Yanke said her brother kissed her on her cheek and told her he loved her. Then he was gone.