{"id":27964,"date":"2015-08-28T10:43:46","date_gmt":"2015-08-28T10:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2015\/08\/28\/frank-e-petersen-jr-first-black-marine-aviator-dies\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:57:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:57:59","slug":"frank-e-petersen-jr-first-black-marine-aviator-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2015\/08\/28\/frank-e-petersen-jr-first-black-marine-aviator-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Frank E. Petersen Jr., first black Marine aviator, dies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Retired Lt. Gen. Frank E. Petersen, the Marine Corps&#8217; first black aviator and brigadier general, died Aug. 25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Petersen, who retired from his groundbreaking 38-year military career in 1988, died at his home in Stevensville, Maryland, at the age of 83 following complications from lung cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The impact he had on the Marine Corps is more than can be put into words,&#8221; Lt. Gen. Ronald Coleman (ret.) told Marine Corps Times. &#8220;Monumental, if you can think &#8230; about where he came from and what he had to go through.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;What he&#8217;s done for the Corps, for the nation, for not only black America but white America, is something for the ages, and I don&#8217;t think we could ever pay him enough for what he&#8217;s done.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Petersen received his promotion to brigadier general in 1979, making him the first black general in the Marine Corps. He received his third star in 1986.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coleman was promoted to lieutenant general 20 years later, becoming the second black Marine to achieve that rank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;He had two fights, so he fought one fight and put the other one behind him,&#8221; Coleman said &#8220;He wanted to be a Marine, so he focused on that and just when forward.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;He pulled, he pushed a lot of people just to make it; maybe not to be a captain, major, colonel or general, but just to persevere.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Petersen was an inspiration to all those who followed in his footsteps,&#8221; said retired Lt. Gen. Willie Williams, <a href=\"http:\/\/archive.marinecorpstimes.com\/article\/20130401\/CAREERS03\/304010008\/Marine-Corps-No-3-general-retire\">another groundbreaking black Marine<\/a> who served as the top adviser to two commandants and worked alongside some of the military&#8217;s most senior leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;You could always look up with great pride just to be associated with a man of such great character. The impact he had was extraordinary \u2014 beyond words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;When you look at the history of the Marine Corps, once the services opened the door to desegregation, he was one of the first to step forward,&#8221; Williams said. &#8220;His performance was truly top of the line. True performance is colorblind: if you perform at the highest level, you&#8217;re recognized for that, not as black or white, but as someone worthy to wear the stars.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Petersen, who received his Marine Corps commission in 1952 following a two-year enlistment in the Navy, was the first black Marine to command at all levels of Marine Corps aviation, from an aircraft squadron to an aircraft wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He completed a 1953 tour during the Korean War and a 1968 tour in Vietnam, flying more than 350 combat missions and 4,000 flying hours. Petersen received the Purple Heart in 1968 after his F-4 Phantom was shot down over the demilitarized zone in Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Petersen retired in 1988 after serving as special assistant to the chief of staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Petersen&#8217;s other military awards include the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with valor device, Distinguished Flying Cross and the Meritorious Service Medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;He was as peaceful and gentle as you could ask a dad to be and was always there for us,&#8221; his son Frank E. Petersen III said. &#8220;You couldn&#8217;t ask for a better father.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retired Lt. Gen. Frank E. Petersen, the Marine Corps\u2019 first black aviator and brigadier general, died Aug. 25.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":57700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":69,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12,69],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1080],"class_list":["post-27964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-marine-corps"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"UHFZEJ73TJH57JM4LFTCCJ3PIY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2015\/08\/28\/frank-e-petersen-jr-first-black-marine-aviator-dies\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Frank E. 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