War Resister With A Purple Heart

Veterans against the war. Darrell Anderson pictured left.

The best thing we can do is pull out altogether and give the people of Iraq the freedom to decide the fate of its own country...No one wants to be occupied. Only the people of a country have that right.

Darrell Anderson , U.S.A.

Date Posted: 12/11/06

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Darrell Anderson served seven months in the Iraq War and was awarded a Purple Heart after being wounded by a roadside bomb. When faced with a second deployment to Iraq, believing the war was unjustified and illegal, he chose instead to head to Canada.

After a long history as a safe haven for war resisters, this week Canada deported US deserter Robin Long, the first soldier to be deported since the Vietnam War.

I was born in southern California and moved to Kentucky in the sixth grade. I had a kid in high school, struggling to pay bills, and working 50 hours a week. That didn't cut it, so I started selling weed. Eventually, I decided the only way to pay for my child, stay out of jail and make it to university was to join the army. I also knew that meant the chance I'd go to war, but I wanted to go to war; I wanted to be a hero and do something good.

The first war in Iraq started a month after I joined. I was in training for a year and was then sent to join them in Baghdad. At that time, I didn't really know why I was going, but I wanted to die for my country and make people proud of me, so I went without question.

I was deployed in Iraq from January 2004 to July 2004. As soon as I got to my unit, I started getting the low down from my fellow soldiers. They said everyone hated us there. I asked them what we were doing there then, and they said, "Just trying to stay alive and make it home."

April 10, 2004, I got hit by a roadside bomb. One of my friends had been hit too, but he got it worse and was discharged for being disabled. When I got my Purple Heart award, he was watching through a window in the other room because he was in pain and not a strong soldier anymore. While I was put on display and had a ceremony, he never had a ceremony.