Karl Brooke Anderson was born in 1892 in Goochland County, Virginia. After graduating from the University of Richmond and attending graduate school at Cornell University, he enlisted and served for two years during World War I with the French Army Ambulance Service. He joined the YMCA to work with prisoners in France. After the war, he went to the Middle east with the British YMCA and worked in prisoner of war camps in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. Illness forced his return to the United States, where he became executive secretary of the University of Virginia YMCA and later the Brown University YMCA, where he remained until his retirement in 1957. In December 1949 he took a five month leave from Brown to work with the American Friends Service Committee distributing aid to Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip. He continued this work after his retirement under the auspices of Church World Service.
From the description of K. Brooke Anderson papers, 1919-1980 (bulk 1949-1959). (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62702429
