TAMPA, Fla. — The flag, coins and pieces from the wreckage of an airplane are reminders for Tonja Anderson-Dell of her grandfather and her new mission — helping families find missing service members.
“My heart and my mission is to help families just like me who’s going through what I’m going through when they hear no it’s not feasible,” she said.
Her grandfather, Airman Issac Anderson Sr., died at 21 years old alongside 51 other soldiers in the 1950s. Their military cargo plane crashed into an Alaskan glacier. Anderson-Dell pushed to keep searching for the wreckage. In 2012, it was spotted by a Blackhawk training mission. Her grandfather was finally identified and brought home to his family last year.
Since then, Anderson-Dell launched the nonprofit, Honored Bound.