Frank E. Petersen Jr.: 1st Black Marine Aviator, General Dies at 83
Topeka Capital Journal (KS) | Aug 27, 2015 | by Celia Llopis-Jepsen
A Topeka native and Topeka High graduate who became the first black Marine Corps aviator and the first black Marine officer promoted to brigadier general died Tuesday.
Retired Lt. Gen. Frank E. Petersen Jr. was born March 2, 1932, in Topeka. Early in his career, he served two years in the Navy before being commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1952. His career stretched through the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam and he flew more than 350 combat missions and more than 4,000 military aircraft hours.
Petersen earned repeated recognition for his service, receiving the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with valor device, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart and the Meritorious Service Medal.
The U.S. Marine Corps issued a news release Wednesday in which Gen. John Paxton, the Marine Corps' 33rd assistant commandant, calls Petersen "a pioneer and role model in many ways, a stellar leader, Marine officer and aviator."
Speaking from their home in Maryland Wednesday evening, Petersen's wife, Alicia, said her husband was a "quiet giant" whose modesty made him approachable and a source of mentorship for many others in the military, particularly minorities.
He didn't see himself as a trailblazer, Alicia Petersen said, but during his years of service he helped craft policies to promote equality within the Marine Corps.
"He was a man who had very strong character, strong goals and a lot of determination to achieve what he wanted to do," she said. "And very early on he decided that he wanted to be a pilot."
As a family member, she described her husband -- a father of five who also leaves behind a grandson and three great grandchildren -- as playful, fun-loving and supportive.
Former Topeka water commissioner Jack Alexander, who attended Topeka High with Petersen and was a lifelong friend, described him as a serious person raised in a strict home who was simultaneously a "happy-go-lucky kind of guy."
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"The thing that always amazed me was this gentleman was such a professional with his military career," said Alexander, who joined the Navy, too, with Petersen's encouragement. "He was military all the way. But a very warm gentleman."
Alexander says Petersen was one of a number of retired high- ranking military officers who showed support in 2008 for Barack Obama at his speech in Denver accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidential election.
Topeka resident Laurence Park, a retired Marine gunnery sergeant who knew Petersen, described him as "absolutely bigger than life" and someone who encouraged other people.
"He's what everybody in Topeka should strive to be," said Park, son of Chester Park, who also served in the Marine Corps and died in 2009.
In 1979, Petersen was promoted to brigadier general. He later served as special assistant to the chief of staff and retired in 1988. In 2010, President Barack Obama appointed him to the Board of Visitors to the United States Naval Academy, which monitors morale, instruction and other matters there.
The Marine Corps says Petersen held commands including the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 212, which was deactivated in 2008, and the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314. He was commanding general at the Marine Corps Combat Development Command. His actions are documented in congressional records and the Marine Corps Aviation Association gives out a flight student of the year award named after him.
The Topeka High School Historical Society inducted Petersen, a 1949 graduate, into its hall of fame in 1986-87. He was the brother of Bill Petersen, the first black player on the Trojans' varsity squad.
The National Visionary Leadership Project, which records interviews with extraordinary African-American leaders to preserve their experiences for future generations, produced a series of videos from an interview with Frank Petersen, which can be viewed on the organization's website (
http://www.visionaryproject.org/ petersenfrank/).
In the interview, Petersen discusses his family history -- including how his father came to Topeka from the Caribbean island of St Croix in the 1920s to work for the Topeka Daily Capital, but ran into discrimination there.
He tells about his decision to join the U.S. Navy, despite his parents' trepidation, and the start of the Korean War shortly thereafter.
He also talks about his experiences pursuing pilot training as an African-American, the obstacles he faced, and later, the advent of the Civil Rights Movement and how it changed the military and affected his family.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/08/27/frank-e-petersen-jr-1st-black-marine-aviator-general-dies-at-83.html
