Former First Lieutenant Ralph D. Anderson, a Navy and Air Force veteran attaining the rank of First Lieutenant ,1951 in the Air Force during the Korean War after joining ROTC in McPherson,Kansas,1946 at 2nd Lieutenant ranking . After training in Biloxi,Mississippi,he headed for his first assignment in the northern Michigan backwoods for the radar station at Empire,MI in Nov.1949,(752nd Aircraft Warning & Control ) watching for a possible Soviet invasion coming from Canada. These were similar to the radar stations that were spread along the DEW line in Alaska and Canada. The radar globes (like large golf balls) were torn down in late 1980's except for the one the FAA uses,by a National Park Service contractor.
Radar savy, during W.W.2 and Korean War, he went on to be an aviation electronics design engineering specialist working for the government and major companies in the United States,Canada and Israel, expanding out to tank radar, harvester electronics ,helicopter avonic systems, commercial aircraft and rapid transit cars (1964- 1992) that started with space telemetry recording, launching rockets and launch readiness (1955-1960) that were conducted mostly at Edwards and Vandenburg AFBs.
He did the radar fab.interface of the Auto Fire Command on the AC-130 Spectre,still used in Afghanistan today.
He was involved in the radar control of the Regulaus II project, a fly by wire rocket,capable of delivering a nuclear weapon by remote control.(1956)
He worked on the X-15 project when it was a classified project on the Mojave Desert(1957-1958),testing connections on rocket fire in test block.My friend Clint Kennard was called in on for vibrations in the rocket, but did not know this until 2000.They acted like they knew each other (1986), other than meeting at my wedding.
Many of the projects paved the way for beginning of the race to the moon. Ralph worked on many classified projects that may not even been declassified yet.
Ralph was a contractor for the 577th Strategic Missile Squadron starting in April 1960, testing Atlas ICBMs in southern OK and northern TX silos,sometimes working 32 hour stretches, jump ahead to Oct. 12,1962,he loaded up his family in a rush and left the area with our uncle's help, as the Soviet missile buildup in Cuba was on. Our missiles were fueled, warheads armed,sitting in their silos, ready to load LOX for launching(a five minute process),as their destination was to be either the Soviet ships or Cuban missile sites.(the Cuban Missile Crisis was on) The missiles would have launched if the Soviets not turned their ships around(loaded with missiles bound for Cuba and war would have happened).We had the U.S. Navy/Coast Guard blockaiding the Soviet ships also. These Atlas missile sites in the US were decommissioned March 1965 and sold to the public.I had toured one of these silos July 1962 before the loading of missiles and fuel.
We owe a great deal of gratitude to JFK for standing up to Nikita Khrushchev and the Soviet Union and not backing down, few people knew really how close we came to war.The U.S. did agree to remove missiles from Turkey as an agreement of removing Soviet missiles from Cuba.
-His son Daryl died in Aug 2010...
*Ralph changed his middle name
pronouniciation at will - Debor to DeBor.
Ralph is buried in same cemetery as his neighbors Stan and Bobbie Nestor and Reg and Jean Thetford, friends and neighbors for 44 years,probably still playing bridge with them.
Radar savy, during W.W.2 and Korean War, he went on to be an aviation electronics design engineering specialist working for the government and major companies in the United States,Canada and Israel, expanding out to tank radar, harvester electronics ,helicopter avonic systems, commercial aircraft and rapid transit cars (1964- 1992) that started with space telemetry recording, launching rockets and launch readiness (1955-1960) that were conducted mostly at Edwards and Vandenburg AFBs.
He did the radar fab.interface of the Auto Fire Command on the AC-130 Spectre,still used in Afghanistan today.
He was involved in the radar control of the Regulaus II project, a fly by wire rocket,capable of delivering a nuclear weapon by remote control.(1956)
He worked on the X-15 project when it was a classified project on the Mojave Desert(1957-1958),testing connections on rocket fire in test block.My friend Clint Kennard was called in on for vibrations in the rocket, but did not know this until 2000.They acted like they knew each other (1986), other than meeting at my wedding.
Many of the projects paved the way for beginning of the race to the moon. Ralph worked on many classified projects that may not even been declassified yet.
Ralph was a contractor for the 577th Strategic Missile Squadron starting in April 1960, testing Atlas ICBMs in southern OK and northern TX silos,sometimes working 32 hour stretches, jump ahead to Oct. 12,1962,he loaded up his family in a rush and left the area with our uncle's help, as the Soviet missile buildup in Cuba was on. Our missiles were fueled, warheads armed,sitting in their silos, ready to load LOX for launching(a five minute process),as their destination was to be either the Soviet ships or Cuban missile sites.(the Cuban Missile Crisis was on) The missiles would have launched if the Soviets not turned their ships around(loaded with missiles bound for Cuba and war would have happened).We had the U.S. Navy/Coast Guard blockaiding the Soviet ships also. These Atlas missile sites in the US were decommissioned March 1965 and sold to the public.I had toured one of these silos July 1962 before the loading of missiles and fuel.
We owe a great deal of gratitude to JFK for standing up to Nikita Khrushchev and the Soviet Union and not backing down, few people knew really how close we came to war.The U.S. did agree to remove missiles from Turkey as an agreement of removing Soviet missiles from Cuba.
-His son Daryl died in Aug 2010...
*Ralph changed his middle name
pronouniciation at will - Debor to DeBor.
Ralph is buried in same cemetery as his neighbors Stan and Bobbie Nestor and Reg and Jean Thetford, friends and neighbors for 44 years,probably still playing bridge with them.
Former First Lieutenant Ralph D. Anderson, a Navy and Air Force veteran attaining the rank of First Lieutenant ,1951 in the Air Force during the Korean War after joining ROTC in McPherson,Kansas,1946 at 2nd Lieutenant ranking . After training in Biloxi,Mississippi,he headed for his first assignment in the northern Michigan backwoods for the radar station at Empire,MI in Nov.1949,(752nd Aircraft Warning & Control ) watching for a possible Soviet invasion coming from Canada. These were similar to the radar stations that were spread along the DEW line in Alaska and Canada. The radar globes (like large golf balls) were torn down in late 1980's except for the one the FAA uses,by a National Park Service contractor.
Radar savy, during W.W.2 and Korean War, he went on to be an aviation electronics design engineering specialist working for the government and major companies in the United States,Canada and Israel, expanding out to tank radar, harvester electronics ,helicopter avonic systems, commercial aircraft and rapid transit cars (1964- 1992) that started with space telemetry recording, launching rockets and launch readiness (1955-1960) that were conducted mostly at Edwards and Vandenburg AFBs.
He did the radar fab.interface of the Auto Fire Command on the AC-130 Spectre,still used in Afghanistan today.
He was involved in the radar control of the Regulaus II project, a fly by wire rocket,capable of delivering a nuclear weapon by remote control.(1956)
He worked on the X-15 project when it was a classified project on the Mojave Desert(1957-1958),testing connections on rocket fire in test block.My friend Clint Kennard was called in on for vibrations in the rocket, but did not know this until 2000.They acted like they knew each other (1986), other than meeting at my wedding.
Many of the projects paved the way for beginning of the race to the moon. Ralph worked on many classified projects that may not even been declassified yet.
Ralph was a contractor for the 577th Strategic Missile Squadron starting in April 1960, testing Atlas ICBMs in southern OK and northern TX silos,sometimes working 32 hour stretches, jump ahead to Oct. 12,1962,he loaded up his family in a rush and left the area with our uncle's help, as the Soviet missile buildup in Cuba was on. Our missiles were fueled, warheads armed,sitting in their silos, ready to load LOX for launching(a five minute process),as their destination was to be either the Soviet ships or Cuban missile sites.(the Cuban Missile Crisis was on) The missiles would have launched if the Soviets not turned their ships around(loaded with missiles bound for Cuba and war would have happened).We had the U.S. Navy/Coast Guard blockaiding the Soviet ships also. These Atlas missile sites in the US were decommissioned March 1965 and sold to the public.I had toured one of these silos July 1962 before the loading of missiles and fuel.
We owe a great deal of gratitude to JFK for standing up to Nikita Khrushchev and the Soviet Union and not backing down, few people knew really how close we came to war.The U.S. did agree to remove missiles from Turkey as an agreement of removing Soviet missiles from Cuba.
-His son Daryl died in Aug 2010...
*Ralph changed his middle name
pronouniciation at will - Debor to DeBor.
Ralph is buried in same cemetery as his neighbors Stan and Bobbie Nestor and Reg and Jean Thetford, friends and neighbors for 44 years,probably still playing bridge with them.
Radar savy, during W.W.2 and Korean War, he went on to be an aviation electronics design engineering specialist working for the government and major companies in the United States,Canada and Israel, expanding out to tank radar, harvester electronics ,helicopter avonic systems, commercial aircraft and rapid transit cars (1964- 1992) that started with space telemetry recording, launching rockets and launch readiness (1955-1960) that were conducted mostly at Edwards and Vandenburg AFBs.
He did the radar fab.interface of the Auto Fire Command on the AC-130 Spectre,still used in Afghanistan today.
He was involved in the radar control of the Regulaus II project, a fly by wire rocket,capable of delivering a nuclear weapon by remote control.(1956)
He worked on the X-15 project when it was a classified project on the Mojave Desert(1957-1958),testing connections on rocket fire in test block.My friend Clint Kennard was called in on for vibrations in the rocket, but did not know this until 2000.They acted like they knew each other (1986), other than meeting at my wedding.
Many of the projects paved the way for beginning of the race to the moon. Ralph worked on many classified projects that may not even been declassified yet.
Ralph was a contractor for the 577th Strategic Missile Squadron starting in April 1960, testing Atlas ICBMs in southern OK and northern TX silos,sometimes working 32 hour stretches, jump ahead to Oct. 12,1962,he loaded up his family in a rush and left the area with our uncle's help, as the Soviet missile buildup in Cuba was on. Our missiles were fueled, warheads armed,sitting in their silos, ready to load LOX for launching(a five minute process),as their destination was to be either the Soviet ships or Cuban missile sites.(the Cuban Missile Crisis was on) The missiles would have launched if the Soviets not turned their ships around(loaded with missiles bound for Cuba and war would have happened).We had the U.S. Navy/Coast Guard blockaiding the Soviet ships also. These Atlas missile sites in the US were decommissioned March 1965 and sold to the public.I had toured one of these silos July 1962 before the loading of missiles and fuel.
We owe a great deal of gratitude to JFK for standing up to Nikita Khrushchev and the Soviet Union and not backing down, few people knew really how close we came to war.The U.S. did agree to remove missiles from Turkey as an agreement of removing Soviet missiles from Cuba.
-His son Daryl died in Aug 2010...
*Ralph changed his middle name
pronouniciation at will - Debor to DeBor.
Ralph is buried in same cemetery as his neighbors Stan and Bobbie Nestor and Reg and Jean Thetford, friends and neighbors for 44 years,probably still playing bridge with them.
Inscription
US NAVY
2ND LT US AIR FORCE
WORLD WAR II
KOREA
Gravesite Details
Ashes inturned about Dec. 10,1998,far southwest side
Family Members
Children
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