Marine Corps' First Black Pilot Remembered at Naval Academy

Stevensville man and Marine Corps' first black pilot remembered at Naval Academy
Capital Gazette
Tim Prudente
September 3, 2015

"There were still separate drinking fountains on the Navy base in Pensacola (Fla.)," he said two years ago. "We could sit anywhere on the bus while it was on base, but as soon as we got to the main gate, we had to sit in the back. The barracks were segregated."

There were shouts and tears in the Naval Academy Chapel.

Frank Petersen Jr., the Marine Corps' first black pilot, died last week at his Stevensville home — and his life was being celebrated.

This undated photo provided by the Marine Corps shows Lt. Gen. Frank E. Petersen Jr., the first black aviator and brigadier general in Marine Corps. Frank E. Petersen III said his father died Tuesday, Aug. 25 at his home in Stevensville from complications from lung cancer. He was 83. (Associated Press)

His friend, Carlos Campbell, spoke Thursday during a memorial service, his voice rising in the chapel. Petersen finished flight training in 1952.

"From that day forward," Campbell said, and the people began to stand. "Nobody else in the entire Marine Corps," he was shouting, "ever had to deal with the indignation and humiliation that was subjected to Frank E. Petersen."

Cheers. Applause. More shouts.

"If you look around this room," he continued, "you will see the legacy of Frank Petersen."

The chapel was filled with other black Marine Corps officers, those who heard, during the memorial service, about a "ramrod-straight, chiseled-faced Marine." He was a retired lieutenant general and died at 83.

They heard how he was shot down over Vietnam, his hip mangled when he ejected.

He flew more than 300 combat missions in Vietnam.

"The military went through a hell of a catharsis in the '60s and '70s during Vietnam," he told The Capital. "There were two wars going on. One against the Viet Cong, and the second, the race riots among the military." In 1986, he also became the first black Marine promoted to lieutenant general. read more here