BLET Feature

Spring 2004
Volume 111 - No. 1

A BLET hero

Quick-thinking Anderson helps avert more than one potential accident

Brian Anderson has spent the greater part of the past 16 years serving his country as a member of the military. However, some of Anderson's greatest heroics were reserved for a trip to the beach.

On June 14, 2003, Anderson, a member of BLET Division 96 (Chicago) and the U.S. Army Reserve 1151st Transportation Company, was taking a break with his fellow soldiers. The men were at Fort Eustis for the two weeks of mandatory reserve duty and decided to spend their two days off at Virginia Beach.

Two of Anderson's buddies from the 1151st, Spc. Matt O'Brien and Spc. Ben June, were with Anderson on the beach that day when they saw a couple men out in the surf.

"The three of us noticed one of the two guys was struggling. Sgt. Anderson said he was going to swim out there and help them," O'Brien said. "Sgt. Anderson swam all the way out there without stopping to think of his own safety just to help two people he had never met before. That was one of the most heroic acts I've ever seen."

Anderson is a bit more matter of fact when recounting the story.

"I knew he was in trouble. Everybody was on the beach watching, but nobody was going out there," he remembered. "You get a chill up your spine and you act."

Anderson, who spent six years in the Marine Corps, was confident in the water survival training he had while in the Corps. He swam out to the man in trouble, who was clinging to a piece of broken boogie board. Anderson got close enough to talk to the man and helped guide him toward the beach. When they reached a point where it was possible to stand, Anderson said the guy became disoriented and started to move back to deeper water.

That is when Anderson grabbed the troubled swimmer and brought him to shore where Virginia Beach emergency medical personnel were waiting. Nobody was hurt.

His rescue on the beach was not the first time Brother Anderson demonstrated his heroic nature. Another example of his quick thinking happened on his way to work one day. He was sitting in his truck at a railroad crossing waiting for a train to pass.

"I saw two of the rail-cars leave the track," he said. "So I jumped out of my truck and ran for the locomotive, boarded the train and informed the engineer to stop, when he did the de-railed cars stopped 50 feet from a 10,000-12,000 gallon diesel fuel tank." A letter of commendation stated that Anderson probably prevented a hazardous materials accident.

Anderson has been a member of the U.S. military in one way or another since 1988. He served in the Marines from 1988-1994, and then in the Marine Reserves from 1994-1997. After September 11, 2001, he went into the Army Reserves.

He began working for Union Pacific after hearing about railroad jobs from some members of the Marine Reserves whom he was training while he was still on active duty. He joined the BLET on September 1, 1998.

Several members of his unit have been sent to Iraq as volunteers to replace soldiers who need to return home, and there is a chance that he will also be sent there in the coming months.

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