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Remembering Lt. Gen. Frank E. Petersen Jr.

by Cathleen Lewis
Air and Space Museum
Frank E. Petersen Jr., was the first Black Marine Corps pilot and
general officer.
Born in racially segregated Topeka, Kansas, Petersen decided to
join the Navy at age 18 after hearing about the Korean War combat
death of Jesse Brown, the Navy’s first black pilot.
Peterson took the Navy’s entrance exam in 1950, two years af-
ter President Harry Truman had ordered the integration of the U.S.
Armed Forces. He aced his aptitude examination twice—first under
normal circumstances and a second time under the close scrutiny of
an examiner who suspected he had cheated.
In 1952 Petersen, then a Marine, was commissioned as a second
lieutenant and became the Marines’ first black aviator. He went on
to fly 350 combat missions during two tours in Korea and Vietnam,
and became the first African American in the Corps to command a
fighter squadron, an air group, and a major base.
Yet even while becoming one of the nation’s most prestigious mili-
tary pilots, he continued to endure racial discrimination in the civilian
world. He learned when to hold his tongue and when to strike back.
Peterson was promoted to brigadier general in 1979. The NAACP
named him its “man of the year” for becoming the first Black general
in the military service that was the last and most resistant to integra-
tion.
He earned the rank of lieutenant general in 1986 and spent the
next two years as commanding general of the Combat Development
Command at Quantico, Va.
Petersen retired from the Marine Corps in 1988 after 38 years of
service. At that time, he held the titles of “Silver Hawk” and “Gray
Eagle.” After leaving the military, Petersen became a vice president
for corporate aviation at Dupont de Nemours. He retired in 1997.
Petersen died Aug. 25, 2015, at the age of 83.
Frank E. Petersen served as a combat pilot in the Korean and
Vietnam wars. The Marine Corps aviator rose to the rank of
lieutenant general. Smithsonian Institution photograph

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