Robert Warner Anderson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 14, 1922. He graduated from Marshall High School in 1940. In August of 1942 Robert joined the United States Navy, in which he served for the remainder of World War II, ending with the rank of Aviation Ordnance Man Second Class (2/C). Robert received his initial training in Great Lakes, Ilinois in the fall of 1942 then went on to the Naval Training School, Aviation Maintenance at Millington, Tennesee. From February on Anderson spent much of 1943 stationed at various East Coast bases; his time included stays in Norfolk, Virginia, Hatboro, Pennsylvania, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Quonset Point Naval Air Station, Rhode Island. In the spring and summer of 1944 Robert sailed off to the Pacific theatre on the aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Franklin.

The U.S.S. Franklin saw extensive action in the Pacific, its planes having participated in strikes on, among others, the Bonins, Iwo Jima, Guam, Rota, and Manila Bay during the summer and fall of 1944. The “Big Ben,” as the Franklin was often referred to, suffered substantial damage inflicted by kamikaze attacks in October of 1944 and, later, March of 1945. The March 19, 1945 attack, which claimed nearly a thousand casualties, resulted in Robert spending three hours overboard until his eventual rescue. With the ship in need of repairs after each attack, Robert was stationed in Bremerton, Washington (January and February 1945) and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (April-October 1945) working and waiting for orders.

Robert W. Anderson is the son of Godfrey W. Anderson and his wife Emma. He had two brothers, William and Roger. The elder Anderson was a World War I veteran and an attorney who practiced law briefly at Proctor before going to work as a claims agent for the Soo Line Railroad. Robert’s brother William was killed in action in 1944 in Italy. Robert’s time in the Navy coincided with the courtship of his future wife Doris Husak.