The following is taken from Petersen's Wikipedia page (accessed July 5, 2023) 
Frank Emmanuel Petersen Jr. (March 2, 1932 – August 25, 2015) was a United States Marine Corps lieutenant general. He was the first African-American Marine Corps aviator and the first African-American Marine Corps general.

Petersen retired from the Marine Corps in 1988 after 38 years of service. "At the time of his retirement he was by date of aviator designation the senior ranking aviator in the U.S. Marine Corps and the United States Navy with respective titles of 'Silver Hawk' and 'Gray Eagle'. His date of designation as an aviator also precedes all other aviators in the U.S. Air Force and Army."

In 2010, President Obama appointed Petersen to the Board of Visitors to the United States Naval Academy.

U.S. military career
Petersen enlisted in the U.S. Navy in June 1950 as a seaman apprentice and served as an electronics technician. When Petersen aced the Navy's entrance exam, the recruiter told him he would make a "great steward." However, being motivated by the recent Korean War combat death of the Navy's first black aviator Jesse L. Brown in December, Petersen vowed to be a combat pilot.

In 1951, he entered the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. In October 1952, he completed flight training and accepted a commission as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. Petersen served a combat tour in the Korean War (1953) and in the Vietnam War (1968). His first tactical assignment was with VMFA-212 during the Korean War. He would fly over 350 combat missions, and had over 4,000 hours in various fighter/attack aircraft. He held command positions at all levels of Marine Corps aviation, commanding a Marine Fighter Squadron, a Marine Aircraft Group and a Marine Aircraft Wing. He was also the first African-American to command a fighter squadron (VMFA-314), a fighter air group, an air wing and a major base. Petersen attended George Washington University, from which he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in social science in 1967 and a Master of Arts degree in international relations in 1973. In 1973, he also graduated from the National War College.

On February 23, 1979, he was promoted to brigadier general, becoming the first African-American general in the Marine Corps. In May 1983, he advanced to the rank of major general and on 12 June 1986, he was promoted to lieutenant general. Petersen relinquished duties as the Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Quantico, Virginia on July 8, 1988. He served as the Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff from July 8–31 and retired from the Marine Corps on August 1, 1988. Upon his retirement, he was presented the Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious service as the Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Quantico, Virginia, from June 1986 to July 1988.

On November 9, 2016, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus officially announced that an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer would be named in honor of Petersen. On February 21, 2017, the keel was laid for the guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. at Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard, Pascagoula, Mississippi.

The Navy said that the ship "will be built in the Flight IIA configuration with the Aegis Baseline 9 Combat System which includes integrated air and missile defense capability. This system delivers quick reaction time, high firepower, and increased electronic countermeasures capability for anti-air warfare". The ship was commissioned on 14 May 2022 at Charleston, South Carolina.

Later life
Frank Petersen died at his home in Stevensville, Maryland, on August 25, 2015, from lung cancer. Petersen left behind his wife Alicia Petersen and children Gayle, Frank, Dana Moore, Lyndsay Pulliam and Monique. In 1998, Petersen wrote an autobiography with J Alfred Phelps, Into the Tigers Jaw.

Photo illustration of Lt. Gen Frank Petersen, courtesy of Gayle Petersen.

Poster from the commissioning ceremony of the USS Frank E. Petersen, Jr.

Poster from the commissioning ceremony of the USS Frank Petersen

Frank Petersen laughing with family members. Image courtesy of Gayle Petersen.

Photo of Frank Petersen laughing with family members

Program for the commissioning ceremony of the USS Frank E.  Petersen, Jr.  Image courtesy of Gayle Petersen.

Photo of the program for the commissioning ceremony of the USS Frank Petersen

Arlington National Cemetery

Lt General Frank Petersen Narrative of Service

180 Landing of the United States Marine Corps Service History

Marine Corps Lieutenant General Frank Emmanuel Petersen, Jr. was born on March 2, 1932 in Topeka, Kansas. His spelling of Petersen is popular amongst his paternal relatives in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. A maternal ancestor, Archie McKinney served in the 55th Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War. His parents, Frank E. Petersen, Sr., a radio repairman, and Edythe Southard Petersen, met at the University of Kansas. Petersen grew up in South Topeka and attended Monroe Elementary School, the gifted program of Boswell Junior High School, where his classmate was the former University of North Carolina head basketball coach Dean Smith. He graduated from Topeka High School in 1949. Briefly attending Washburn College, Petersen joined the United States Navy in 1950. He entered the Naval Aviation Cadet Program in 1951 and in 1952 after finishing flight training as the first black Marine aviator, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps (USMC). Petersen later received his B.A. degree in 1967 and his M.A. degree in international affairs in 1973, both at George Washington University. He also graduated from the National War College in 1973.

Assigned briefly to El Toro, California, Petersen was assigned to Korea in 1953. There, he flew Chance Vaught F4U Corsairs on 64 combat missions with Marine Fighter Squadron 212 out of the K-6 Airfield in Pyong-Taek to the Yalu River. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and six air medals. In the 1960s, Petersen experienced the transition from propeller driven fighters to jets like the Lockheed T-33B Seastar, the Gruman F9F Cougar and the Douglas F3D Skynight. In 1968, Petersen became the first African American to command a squadron when he took over Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314), the Black Knights, in Vietnam. VFMA-314 received the 1968 Hanson Award for best squadron in the USMC. Shot down but rescued in the DMZ, Petersen added 250 combat missions to his Korean total. He eventually commanded a Marine Aircraft Group and a Marine Aircraft Wing. In 1975, Petersen took command of Marine Air Corps 32 at Cherry Point, North Carolina and in 1979 became the first African American General in USMC history. Petersen was made Lieutenant General in 1986 and was appointed Commanding General of the USMC Combat Development Command at Quantico, Virginia. When he retired in 1988, Petersen was the first black three star general in the USMC and the “Silver Hawk” and “Gray Eagle” senior and ranking aviator in both the USMC and the Navy. He was awarded still another Distinguished Service Medal for his command services at Quantico.

FRANK E PETERSEN JR

Service

KOREA

VIETNAM

DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS

PURPLE HEART

AIR MEDAL

US MARINE CORPS,

LtGen

Resting Place

Mementos

Tributes

Word Cloud

undefined

Milestones

Mementos

Historical Documents

Veteran programs and services

More VA resources

Get VA updates

In crisis? Get help now

Contact us