Retired 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 Edith Sutterand 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.
Petersen spent his civilian years as vice president of corporate
aviation for DuPont DeNemours, Inc. Managing their corporate fleet, he
traveled the globe, retiring in 1997.
Petersen, who has five children, lives on the Chesapeake Bay.
Petersen was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on February 7, 2007
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