Pinellas memorial planned for Ranger killed in combat

The St. Petersburg service will allow an ill brother and Fort Myers friends to attend.

By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 7, 2002

A memorial service for a U.S. soldier killed in a battle in the mountains of Afghanistan will be held Monday in St. Petersburg so that his older brother, who is ill with cancer, can attend.

Marc A. Anderson, 30, will be remembered at services at St. Raphael's Church before being buried later Monday at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, said his father, David Anderson.

Marc Anderson's brother, Steve, lives in St. Petersburg. The church is also centrally located between Marc Anderson's parents in Jacksonville and his former co-workers in Fort Myers.

Anderson taught seventh-grade math at Fort Myers Middle School Academy before enlisting in the Army in 1998. He was a special operations Army Ranger with the 75th Ranger Regiment out of Hunter Army Air Field in Georgia.

Anderson and five others were killed while trying to rescue a Navy SEAL who had fallen from a helicopter during an attack by al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.

Anderson was aboard one of two Chinook helicopters carrying special operations troops sent in to rescue their fallen comrade.

One of the helicopters came under heavy fire after touching down. The troops fought for their lives for at least nine hours.

"He was just in a very long, heavy firefight," David Anderson said.

The bodies of the Navy SEAL, Anderson and five others were flown to Dover Air Force Base, and plans were being made Wednesday to return them to their families.

David Anderson said he realizes some people will question the rescue attempt, but as a former Army Ranger who fought in Vietnam, he said he "absolutely believed in" his son and the assignment.

"If it was your husband or your son, you would want the body back," he said. "They accomplished their mission."

Services for Anderson are open to the public. A viewing is scheduled from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Anderson-McQueen Funeral Home's Ninth Street Chapel, 2201 Ninth St. NW.

The memorial service will be Monday at 10 a.m. at St. Raphael's Catholic Church at 1376 Snell Isle Blvd. Burial will be 1 p.m. in Bushnell.

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