Frank Emmanuel Petersen Jr. (USMC) (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.
Peterson 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 Marine Fighter Squadron 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, a fighter air group, an air wing and a major base.
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 Feb 21, 2017, the keel was laid for the future guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) at Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard, Pascagoula, Mississippi.
The Navy said that DDG 121 “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.”
Petersen died at his home in Stevensville, Maryland on August 25, 2015 from lung cancer. Frank Petersen leaves behind his wife, Alicia Petersen and children, Gayle, Frank, Dana Moore, Lyndsay Pulliam and Monique.