Flight has taken Bill Anderson to great heights and on many adventures throughout the world.

He commanded fighter jets over hostile skies in war and in peacetime piloted all types of planes in friendly skies.

Flying brought out the best in the Auburn man, long since retired from his extensive duty with the Air Force and his managerial work at The Boeing Co.

“There’s just something about it, something special,” said Anderson, 81, reflecting on a military and civilian career, which spanned 43 years. “You’re up in the sky. There’s freedom. You’re in charge and you deal with a lot of problems.”

Flight first gripped Anderson as he was growing up in the Green River Valley in the 1940s, when, as a wide-eyed youngster, he occupied the seat next to the pilot of a small-craft airplane as it took off from a small valley airport next to a rural highway.

The boy was hooked. Flying became his passion.

“I never forgot that flight,” he said.

What followed were bigger airplanes and complicated missions throughout a 21-year military career.

Anderson, a 1951 Kent-Meridian High School graduate, earned a degree in productions management at the University of Washington, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force through the ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) program.

He served as a pilot, instructor and aircraft commander at air bases sprinkled throughout the country and abroad during the Cold and Vietnam wars.

When called upon in 1968, Major Anderson went to Southeast Asia. He flew 158 missions, 58 of which were over North Vietnam, primarily in a search-and-destroy role to disrupt the enemy and its supply lines running from North to U.S.-supported South Vietnam.

On three occasions, Viet Cong-fired 37-millimeter shells struck Anderson’s F-4 fighter jet. On one of those missions, enemy flak crippled his plane, but the seasoned pilot nursed the jet back to base.

Anderson was lucky. He came home. Some of his friends did not.

“I was very, very fortunate,” Anderson said.

As a senior command pilot with more than 4,300 flying hours, Anderson received several military awards and citations. He retired as a colonel in 1979.

Anderson worked in management at Boeing for 22 years before retiring.

He and his wife of 62 years, Donna, have made Auburn their home since 1979. They raised a son, Jeffrey, and two daughters, Sheri and Lori, and have seven grandchildren.

In retirement, Bill Anderson stayed active in the community, serving on boards for Green River Community College and the Auburn Municipal Airport. To this day, the couple still travels and enjoys the company of many family and friends.

“He’s a good guy,” Donna said. “He’s hard working. He’s always been dependable. He loves the challenge.”

And the ability to command the skies.

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PHOTO BELOW: Air Force officer Bill Anderson flew 158 missions during the Vietnam War, and survived the hostile skies to come home. Courtesy, Anderson family