Peter J. Anderson (Lt Col, USAF Res, ret) was born in Superior, Wis., in August 1940 and grew up in Cedar Grove, N.J. He attended high school at Seton Hall Prep School and received a B.A. in Social Studies from Seton Hall University, South Orange. N.J.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant from the USAF Officers Training School (OTS) at Lackland AFB, Texas, in March 1964 and afterward held assignments as a Field Training Officer with the USAF Survival and Special Training School (Stead AFB, [Reno], Nevada); as

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the Public Affairs Officer for the USAF Survival and Special Training School, Fairchild AFB (Spokane, WA); and as Public Affairs Officer with the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing, Phan Rang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, and with the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing, Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, Republic of Vietnam. He later served as an Internal Information Staff Officer with the Secretary of the Air Force Information Officer (SAF/OII) in the Pentagon, where he also served on the USAF Battle Staff.

Anderson has been involved in polar matters since about summer of 1970 when he became the USAF officer assigned to the U.S. Naval Support Force, Antarctica (CTF-43) as the Technical Editor of the Department of Defense for the Antarctic Journal of the United States, with headquarters in the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard. He first visited Antarctica in November 1970 when he escorted a group of International Antarctic Treaty Observers to Antarctica [and later visited the Antarctic Peninsula in January-February 1991 as a lecturer of the MV World Discover]. When the Support Force was relocated to the CB Center in Davisville, Rhode Island, in 1972, his position was transferred over to the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs (NSF-OPP).

While there, Anderson continued his Antarctic Journal responsibilities and started the Arctic Bulletin, a similar publication concentrating on multi-federal agency research in the Arctic, and was a member of the Inter-Agency Arctic Research Coordinating Committee (IARCC). He held this position until August 31, 1973, when he resigned his USAF commission. He remained at the NSF as a consultant until February 1974, after which he became Assistant Director of The Ohio State University's Institute of Polar Studies (now the Byrd Polar Research Center), succeeded John Splettstoesser.

While assigned in Washington, D.C., Anderson earned an M.Sc. degree in Public Relations from The American University in Washington, D.C. While at Ohio State University, he completed his course work for a PhD in History (Military History) as he continued his USAF Reserve work at the USAF Office of Air Force History in Washington, D.C. Initially his responsibilities with the Office of Air Force History were to critique the semi-annual Air Staff Histories, but he later moved on to a book project, tentatively entitled “The USAF in Antarctica, 1928–[end date never established]." Due to a brain aneurysm and resulting disability retirement, Anderson’s project remains incomplete at this time, and the files reside in The OSU Polar Archives Collection.

In retirement, he is involved in working on his family genealogy, volunteering at Columbus State Community College's Lifelong Learning Institute (where he serves on the CSCC-LLI Steering Committee and the Curriculum Sub-Committee) and participates in the Westminster-Thurber Retirement Community Older Wiser Learners School (OWLS).

Anderson is divorced, has six children and seven grandchildren and lives at the Forum at Knightsbridge Retirement Community in Columbus, Ohio, where he also serves as the chairperson of The Forum at Knightsbridge I Resident Council.