He was born "eight miles north of Minden, Louisiana on the Dorcheat Road in a log cabin. That's the truth," states Harold Anderson. After joining the Air Force, he was trained as an aircraft mechanic as well as a waist gunner on a B-17. Harold shipped out to the European theater in summer of 1944 and was assigned to a base near Poddington, England with the 92^nd Bomb Group. He was assigned to service aircraft, although he flew four missions as a ball turret gunner. Near the end of the war he was placed in the infantry as a squad sergeant and was in training in southern England when hostilities ceased. Harold was transferred back to the Air Force before receiving his discharge on December 21, 1945 at the rank of sergeant. He worked for several companies during his career, and then joined the state employment department as a labor market analyst.