Ohioan’s book details granddad’s WWII exploits
While growing up as the youngest grandson of two-star Maj. Gen. John Benjamin Anderson, Canton-area doctor Michael M. Van Ness knew the World War II military leader only as “a grandson knows his granddad.”
Even as a teenager, when he saw photographs of his grandfather with Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Field Marshal (Bernard) Montgomery, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, he did not understand the significance.
Years after his grandfather’s death in 1976, with reflection upon the evidence of his grandfather’s career — images of him with men of greatness, clusters of medals that adorned his uniform, and letters home from locations of strategic World War II military operations — Van Ness came to realize the important part his grandfather played in aiding the Allies in defeating the Axis powers.
Van Ness used the knowledge of his grandfather that he gained later in life — using historical records to put perspective to family stories — and penned “General In Command: The Life of Major General John B. Anderson, from Iowa Farm to Command of the Largest Combat Corps in World War II.” The book was published in 2019 by Koehler Books.
“It’s not a technical book, it’s a biography,” said Van Ness, a gastroenterologist in Canton. “It’s a biography of an officer who came from humble beginnings and became a success.”
In the preface and initial chapters of his book, Van Ness recalls how his grandfather, “despite his modest farmboy upbringing” in Iowa, excelled in his education, first at the Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and then at the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
“He did so well that they brought him back later to be a teacher,” said Van Ness. “He taught many of the ground commanders with which he served in World War II.”
Still, Anderson had tribulations mixed in with his success, Van Ness’ research showed.
“He was orphaned as a young officer and was divorced on his way to France in the First World War,” wrote Van Ness in his preface, who added that “during the lonely years of Army service in the 1930s, he endured fourteen long years with no promotion.”
A long list of achievements, however, included his organization of the 102nd Infantry Division and the 16th Corps “into effective fighting units,” wrote Van Ness.
“On his way to war, he dined with Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who he later escorted over the Rhine River,” Van Ness wrote. “I later learned that General Anderson commanded the largest United States Army Corps in combat in World War II in decisive victories against the Germans.”
A photograph taken March 25, 1945, shows his grandfather, by then commander of the 16th Army Corps, in the presence of Montgomery. Also in the photo are General Anderson’s immediate superior, Gen. W.H. Simpson. In the background are senior American officer Gen. Omar N. Bradley and British Field Marshall Sir A.F. Brooke.
Significantly absent from the image was Gen. Eisenhower, Van Ness notes.
The picture was taken at the time of the Rhine River crossing, a military operation, Van Ness said, of which Eisenhower wasn’t in favor for safety and more personal reasons. The supreme commander of Allied forces previously had explained his position to American military officers.
“Eisenhower had said that Churchill was going to steal the limelight, cross the Rhine, and get a photo op,” Van Ness said, “and under no circumstances was that to happen.”
After speaking with Montgomery about the crossing, however, Gen. Simpson had told Gen. Anderson to “make it happen.”
Another photograph from the archives of history shows Churchill and Montgomery, along with other Allied officers, crossing the Rhine.
“That picture was published on the front of every major newspaper the next day,” Van Ness said. “My grandfather had followed his orders and made it happen.”
History shows that Gen. Anderson never would attach a third star to the shoulders of his uniform or the front of his helmet.
“He wasn’t promoted because he helped Churchill cross the Rhine, in direct opposition to Eisenhower’s order not to let it happen,” said Van Ness. “But, his direct supervisor told him to make it happen.”
Gen. Anderson never talked of the incident with his family, said Van Ness.
“In his letters to my grandmother, particularly at the end of the war, he opened up a little about how he felt about entertaining the bigwigs,” Van Ness noted. “Basically, he said it was exhausting and that he was much happier just being with the troops.”