U.S. Returns Deserter to Canada

 

The Washington Post

August 31, 1974,. p. A13

 

Douglas, Canada, Aug. 30 —  U.S. Army deserter Ronald Anderson, who was taken into custody by U.S. Customs agents on the Canadian side of the border last Saturday, returned to Canada last night.

 

Anderson, 31, was released from the military stockade at Ft. Lewis, Wash., on orders from the State Department after the Canadian government requested his return yesterday.

 

Customs agents acknowledged that they crossed into Canada at the Peace Arch International Park pursuing Anderson on Saturday.

 

They said he and his wife Marion were traveling from their home in Mission, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, to visit his mother in Poulsbo, Wash., when an agent determined his identity and tried to capture him.

 

According to the agents, he broke away and fled into Canadian territory. His capture was reported to have been recorded on news film.

 

Anderson is living in Canada under landed immigrant status. According to an Army report, he was absent without leave for 10 months when he was captured and court-martialed in 1968. He escaped from Ft. Lewis in November 1968, the report said.

 

An army spokesman said Anderson was driven to the border today in the company of the Canadian consul-general.

 

Marion Anderson said the attempted border crossing was not his first: “It was for a very strong emotional reason. His only family lives in the Poulsbo and sometimes family ties are very strong.”