Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004 | 11:07 a.m.
To his friends, Nicholas Anderson was the tall, tough, battle-ready Marine seemingly born to serve his country.
But his mother knew a stubborn aspiring chef who loved few things more than spending time with his friends and family and scuba diving off the California coast.
It was a dream Anderson was reluctant to share with many people, his mother, Las Vegas cocktail waitress Eleanor Andrea Dachtler, remembered.
"He didn't want people to laugh but he was planning to go to culinary school," she said.
While his future career as a high-end Las Vegas chef was only a distant possibility, Dachtler was not surprised when Anderson enlisted in the Marines three days after his 18th birthday in February 2003. Dachtler had refused to sign the paperwork to allow her only child to enlist as a minor.
Marine Lance Cpl. Nicholas Anderson, 19, was killed Friday in a vehicle accident in Iraq's Al Anbar Province, according to a Defense Department statement.
His mother said the Humvee he was riding in flipped while protecting a convoy outside of Fallujah. Dachtler said this morning that she did not yet know if the accident was a result of an explosion or driver error.
Anderson is the ninth Nevada serviceman to have been killed while serving in the war on terror in Iraq, Kuwait or Afghanistan since fighting began in the region in late 2001.
A former ROTC platoon sergeant at Bonanza High School, Anderson was also a member of the Naval Sea Cadets in junior high school. And, despite enlisted bonuses promised him from other branches, he decided on the Marines because, as his mother said, "they were the best."
"He was as pig-headed as could be," she said, laughing between tears. "He had to go into the Marines. He had always planned on serving his country."
Retired Army Sgt. Maj. Kip Kowalski works with more than 150 high school-age soldiers every school year, but Anderson stood out for him, he said.
Anderson started at Bonanza High School during Kowalski's first year as the leader of that school's ROTC.
Anderson "loved his country and wanted to be in uniform," said Kowalski, who served 25 years in the Army. "It was always in his plans. If anything, it (the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks) made him more eager to go."
Their shared love of the military and its traditions helped forge the friendship between Kowalski and Anderson, who kept in touch until the younger man was sent to fight in Iraq in May.
"I was a big brother or an uncle figure to him," Kowalski said, his voice breaking. "Our personalities clicked and stuff. He thought he was a tough guy, and I thought I was a tough guy."
Kowalski last heard from his former student in the spring, before he was to ship out. It would be the last time the two friends saw each other.
About midnight Sunday, Kowalski "got a call from one of the girls in the (ROTC) group in the middle of the night, and I thought, 'What are the chances that it's our Nick Anderson,' " he said. "Once I started seeing the news I knew it was Nick.
"He was a very patriotic young man and he died doing what he wanted to do."
Anderson was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Kowalski said he had repeatedly tried to convince Anderson to go to college to become a commissioned officer.
"I wanted to salute him someday," Kowalski said.
Anderson's mother had different dreams about her son's future. said Anderson had been engaged to a woman in the Air Force stationed in Japan, but the long distance postponed their wedding.
Dachtler said she was already looking forward to having her son and his new wife living nearby.
"I told him, 'You can live here," she said of her home in northwest Las Vegas. "I'll knock down the walls and make a big room and I'll make you your favorite tacos."
The news of Anderson's death caused current and former members of Bonanza's ROTC program to gather at the school Monday.
Jacob Butts remembered Anderson as an outgoing student who wanted nothing more than to serve his country.
Anderson also played football for the Bengals, school officials said, but ROTC was his first love, Butts said. Butts, who graduated with Anderson and still lives in Las Vegas, visited Kowalski on Monday when he heard the news.
The physical strength that had made the 6-foot-3 Anderson a powerful football player also helped him during long ROTC drills, Butts said.
"He was a built guy," he said. "He never had any problem with the physical aspect of it. He was always out there ready to go."
Anderson and Butts joined the ROTC as freshmen and stayed friends through high school, Butts said.
Jennifer Johnson, a 19-year-old who graduated with Anderson in 2003, said, "It hurts to know he was out there fighting for me, and now he is gone. He always did his best, and I know he was doing his best in Iraq.
"He's the best hero I know."
Anderson, who graduated from Bonanza after transferring from Chapparal High School his freshman year, was remembered by all as a fun-loving, hard-working big kid.
"He loved to work on cars," Johnson, a former ROTC member, said. "He restored my 1971 Jeep, and on one of his last nights here we went out off-roading in it.
"At least we were able to have fun that one last time."
Anderson spent time as a member of the color guard at Bonanza, and was an ROTC platoon sergeant. He wrestled and was a lineman on Bonanza's 2003 varsity football team.
"He always worked really hard at everything," Bonanza wrestling coach Russ Leet said. "He was a good athlete and never missed practice, but the thing he liked most was just being a part of the team."
Kowalski said Anderson became busy with sports and other activities his junior year and left the ROTC, but it didn't stop him from returning to check in on the group.
J.J. DeJesus, an 18-year-old member of the Army National Guard, said that Anderson inspired him to join the ROTC and the military.
"I never thought about joining the military before I met him," DeJesus said. "He was hard core military and you got a sense of leadership from him.
"The best I can describe him is just as an outgoing guy who was never down. He liked to play around and goof off, but he was serious about the military."
Just how serious became evident to Dachtler during her first phone call from her son in Iraq.
"When he first called home after he went into battle I could tell how shook up he was," Dachtler said. "I said, 'Oh no, this is it. This is my only child.' I wanted to go get him but he goes, 'Mom, don't you even try something like that. I have guys out here and they depend on me.' I can remember it to this day. I didn't know if I wanted to wring his neck or give him a big hug."
Don Southworth, a 2001 Bonanza graduate, had trouble talking about Anderson on Monday and had to fight through his emotions.
"The past 24 hours have been crazy," said Southworth, who was an ROTC commander at Bonanza when Anderson was platoon sergeant. "I'm still trying to come to grips with the reality that Nick is gone and he's not coming back.
"I'm sad that he's gone. I'm angry that he's gone. But I'm happy for the memories I have."
Southworth said that Anderson always talked about joining the military.
"From the day we met he was always talking about joining," Southworth said. "I think he chose the Marines was because he thought it was more gung-ho.
"I have a lot of friends in Afghanistan and Iraq and you see people dying there on TV everyday, but it's not the same. It really hits home when it's someone you know so well."
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