Looking to the Air Force for answers in daughter’s death

By Debbie Gregory.

Parents of Airman 1^st Class Kelsey Sue Anderson are looking for answers regarding her untimely death while serving in the Air Force on the island of Guam.

There is nothing more painful than experiencing the heartbreak of losing a child. It is an unbearable grief that families go through when dealing with the tragedy a child dying. To add to the heartache, the family of Airman 1st Class Kelsey Sue Anderson of Idaho is getting the runaround from the United States Air Force (USAF) and very little assistance from their United States Senator, Jim Risch.

Airman Anderson was a member of the USAF and was assigned duties with Security Forces on the beautiful island of Guam. She had been there about five months before her death on June 9, 2011.

According to a story from the Associated Press the USAF says that Airman Anderson was “the apparent victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound from her own service weapon”

The military reported to Chris and Adelia Sue Anderson, Airman 1^st Class Kelsey Sue Anderson’s parents, that she had committed suicide.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson contacted Sen. Risch, a first-term senator, and he failed to help the Anderson family obtain more information about their daughter’s death. Sen. Risch sent a letter to the USAF, but did not follow through on the case.

The Air Force dropped the ball too. Now it looks like there’s some sort of cover-up. When contacted by the Associated Press, the USAF dodged questions and “said requests about the case must come from Kelsey Sue Anderson’s family.”

The USAF could have assigned an officer from the Andersen AFB Guam legal office to be the point of contact for Anderson’s family until the case was closed and all of the family’s questions were answered.

Now Chris and Adelia Sue Anderson have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, aiming to force the Air Force to respond to their Freedom of Information Act request, seeking more information about how their daughter died.

The couple says they are prepared for anything in the report, but want closure so they can get on with their lives.