Laura Waters Anderson
Laura Waters Anderson remembers the day vividly.
She was a youngster about six years old that day in 1945 when the two Army soldiers dressed in crisp uniforms arrived at her Grandma Minnie Bennett Waters Kelly’s home. The home was on what is now known as Madge Road just north of Blackshear.
Anderson’s father, James Woodrow Waters, and Hubert were brothers.
Anderson says she was in the yard playing when she noticed the car with the soldiers and with her Grandma riding along with them.
Her Grandma was escorted by the soldiers to tell Woodrow the news.
“They came to tell her that my Uncle Hubert was missing in action,” she said, as a tear ran down her cheek.
She didn’t understand it all that day, but it is seared into her memory.
Anderson, now 86, sits on a pew in the Pearson-Dial Funeral Home Chapel just a few feet away from the one who was once missing, but now is found — and is home again.
Sgt. Andrew Walsh and his father, Tony, examine the dog tags, the military identification bracelet, that was attached to Pvt. Waters casket.
Her Uncle Hubert’s flag-draped casket lies in repose before her, flanked by a smiling portrait of him in his uniform on one end and a brown, wool World War II Army uniform on the other.
Her Uncle Hubert had joined the Army when she was about a year old and was sent overseas. About a year after he enlisted, the United States entered World War II. Two years into the conflict, Waters was captured by the Japanese in the Phillipines. Waters never returned.
“Grandma hoped for a while that he would be found, but that soon faded,” she said.
Anderson says eventually her Uncle Hubert was presumed to be dead. Her Grandma arranged for a funeral at Walkerville Baptist Church and bought a suitable monument for him at the Blackshear City Cemetery — one the military declined to pay for.
“There was a part of her that was always missing,” she said.
Kelly died in 1986 at the age of 94 and was buried beside her son, Hubert’s, monument.
This Saturday, April 4, 2026, Hubert will be buried beside his Mama.
Anderson said she was contacted in 2019 by the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Agency of the Defense Department.
The seven-year long process of obtaining DNA and testing and making a positive identification finally led to Waters’s remains being identified.
Anderson had an emotional, full-circle moment last Saturday.
When her Uncle Hubert’s casket arrived back home he was escorted by U.S. Army Sergeant Andrew Walsh, dressed in a crisp, brown uniform. Walsh, son of Jackie and Tony Walsh, is Anderson’s grandson and Waters’ great-greatnephew.
A 2020 graduate of Pierce County High School and former Bears baseball player, Walsh joined the Army and is now stationed at Fort Drum, New York.
He accompanied his Uncle Hubert’s casket from Omaha, Nebraska, to Atlanta to Jacksonville and then on home to Blackshear.
Walsh says the emotions of the day were almost overwhelming.
“When I was on the plane from Atlanta to Jacksonville, I was happy he was almost home but once I landed and saw the water salute tears were brought to my eyes,” he said.
Still, Walsh says he knew he had a job to finish. The young sergeant stood on the tarmac and gave his Uncle Hubert a final salute off the plane before he came home.
“Once that was all over, all I wanted to do was cry in relief that he was home for good after being away for so long,” he said.
Walsh said he was touched seeing people along the procession route throughout northeast Florida and southeast Georgia on the way home.
“Seeing the love from everyone who lined the streets waving American flags just made me appreciate the moment even more. It’s a moment I will never forget,” he said.
In his role as escort, Sgt. Walsh opened his Uncle Hubert’s flagdraped casket once it was wheeled in to the funeral home to make sure Waters’ uniform was still presentable after the trip.
“I was just happy that he has finally made it home to be with his family. It made me appreciate all the sacrifices he made so many years ago so we could have the freedoms we have today. It was one more memory I get to cherish forever.”
The memories that stretched all the way back to 1945 are added to new ones to be made this week.
Sgt. Andrew Walsh (far right) salutes the casket of his great-uncle, Private Hubert Waters, on the tarmac at Jacksonville International Airport Saturday as it is borne from a Delta Airlines jet to a waiting hearse from Pearson-Dial Funeral Home.
