Anderson, Roland 1907-1930

ANDERSON, STEIN

Posted By: Doris Hoffman, Volunteer (email)
Date: 3/16/2015 at 17:35:04

Note: His mother's maiden name is Stein. He is buried in Hillside Cemetery.
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MERRILL MAN WRECK VICTIM
Youth Was On Way Home to Visit Recently Widowed Mother

SERVED IN PHILIPPINES

Roland Anderson Among Nine teen Killed in Bus Accident

Roland Anderson, age 22 years, one of the nineteen persons killed Friday morning when a Santa Fe train struck a Pickwick transcontinental bus at Isleta New Mexico was a native of Merrill Plymouth County.

Anderson was on his way home for a visit after an absence of two years which he spent with the United States army in the Philippine islands. He had arrived in San Francisco Tuesday and had boarded the bus to return home.

The victim of the crash was born in Merrill, July 14, 1907 and had lived there practically all of his life. He attended the public schools in Merrill and after his graduation entered the army.

The body will be brought to Merrill for funeral services and burial.

Efforts were being made Saturday to completely identify nineteen victims of a motor bus and train crash, whose bodies were so mangled that some uncertainly still exists regarding names of twelve of the dead.

Ten other passengers aboard the Pickwick.Greyhound bus, enroute from Los Angeles to Denver, were injured. Bits of wreckage and bodies were strewn for 200 yards by a speeding Santa fe mail train that struck the bus Friday, at a crossing near the ancient Pueblo of Isleta.

Flames Sweep Wreckage

After the collision blazing gasoline burned the clothing from some of the bodies and consumed inflamable parts of the wrecked bus. So broken was bodies of the victims that their indentity had to be learned from letters and their effects and baggage. State official have moved to investigate the cause of the crash. District Attorney Lujan announced an inquest into the deaths would be held Monday at Albuquerque.

Father Died Few Weeks Ago

A correspondent from Merrill says: For the second time in less than two months, death entered the home of the Swan Anderson family here, when word arrived of the Albuquerque bus tragedy.

Roland Anderson, one of the victims, grew up here, was returning home for a 90-day furlough from a station in the army in the Philippines, to aid his mother in place of the father, whose sudden death occurred February 16.

"Bud as he was familiarly known, enlisted in the fall of 1928 and was immediately sent to the Philippines. He had planned to re-enlist for service in foreign field, when his father's death halted that plan and he took the furlough instead.

Survivors include the mother Mrs. Anna Anderson, and two sisters, Helen and Violet and a younger brother, Kenneth.

The body is being held at Albuquerque until the final inquest and is now expected to arrive here sometime the latter part of the week.

Le Mars Semi-Weekly Sentinel
Tuesday, April 15, 1930
Le Mars, Iowa
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Merrill, Ia.--Special: The body of Roland Anderson, army man who lost his life April 11, in the Albuquerque, N. M., bus tragedy, while on his way home on a furlough from the Philippines, arrived in Merrill late Sunday and the funeral, held Monday afternoon, in the Merrill Methodist Church, was one of the largest ever held here.

Flags were placed at half-mast throughout the day and business houses closed during the funeral. Oleson-Halweg Post, American legion, furnished pallbearers and a firing squad.

It is only two months since a military funeral was given Roland's father, who was a Spanish-American War veteran, and who died very suddenly at his home.

Sioux City Journal
Wednesday, April 23, 1930
Sioux City, Iowa
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YOUTH ACCORDED MILITARY HONORS
LAST RITES ARE HELD FOR ROLAND ANDERSON BUS ACCIDENT VICTIM

The body of Roland Anderson, army man who lost his life April 11 in Albuquerque, N.M., bus tragedy, while on his way home on a furlough from the Philippines, arrived in Merrill late Sunday and the funeral held Monday afternoon, in the Merrill Methodist church, was one of the largest ever held at that place.

Flags were place at half-mast throughout the day and business houses closed during the funeral. Oleson-Halweg post, American Legion, furnished pallbearers and a firing squad.

It is only two months since a military funeral was given Roland's father, who was a Spanish-American War veteran, and who died very suddenly at his home.

Le Mars Semi-Weekly Sentinel
Friday, April 25, 1930
Le Mars, Iowa
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