Petersen's military unit reunites for Saturday memorial

In the 1960s, at 6 p.m. every Monday, Danny Petersen would watch the World War II military drama “Combat!” on television, much to the chagrin of others in his family, according to Petersen’s sister, Sueane Smith.

But Danny’s father, Leo Petersen — a veteran of WWII who served on Tinian Island in the south Pa­cific — would overrule the objec­tions of Danny’s siblings, saying the same thing each time, Smith said.

“Someday, he’ll be over there, getting shot at,” Leo Petersen would say.

It was a statement that would prove prophetic a few years later, when Danny Petersen was in southern Vietnam, fending off heavy fire from the North Viet­namese Army so that others in his Army unit could get to safety.

“Growing up in Kansas, Danny was ill-prepared to witness the hell he saw in Vietnam, but he knew what he was fighting for,” Smith told a crowd of more than 100 gathered at her older brother’s grave in Netawaka Cemetery on Saturday morning. “He was fight­ing for his comrades, and to get home.”

Petersen did not make it home alive, but 23 of his fellow members of Company B, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division — Bravo Company — who did were part of that Saturday morning gathering.

It was the first time that as many members of Bravo Company had gotten together since they were to­gether in Vietnam, according to Petersen’s company commander, Fred Drew, who organized a week­end gathering of the company. Sat­urday’s gathering was a time, Drew said, to remember Petersen’s sacri­fice and to honor his family, as well as the families of the men who served.

“Our families mean so much to us,” Drew said before three of the men who were with Petersen on Jan. 9, 1970 — the day Petersen made the ultimate sacrifice for his “brothers” in Bravo Company — laid a memorial wreath at his grave.

Petersen’s platoon sergeant, Joe Evangelista, who came from Del Haven, N.J., for Saturday’s gathering, also reminded those present that this was a time to thank Petersen, although Evangelista said he wasn’t sure how to do that.

“I’m alive, and a lot of the guys behind me are alive, because of what Danny did,” said Evangelista, pointing to some of the surviving members of Bravo Company. “He was committed to his job, was committed to his brothers, and he really paid a huge price for it. But I’m still not sure how to thank him, because just saying thank you for my life isn’t quite enough. So I’d like to think that the way I’ve lived my life, the way these gentlemen behind me have lived their lives, would have made Danny proud.”

Petersen, a Specialist Fourth Class with the U.S. Army, received a posthumous Medal of Honor for his actions on that day in 1970, when he took on the NVA and en­abled his fellow soldiers to get to safety. His “heroic and selfless ac­tions prevented further loss of life in his platoon,” and his “conspicu­ous gallantry and extraordinary heroism are in the highest traditions of the service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army,” according to his Medal of Honor citation.

Some of the men who were with Petersen at the time of the armored personnel carrier attack that left him mortally wounded also spoke of Petersen’s devotion to his family and his fellow soldiers. Jerry Knoll, who came from Mason City, Iowa, for the memorial gathering, de­scribed Petersen as someone who would share letters from home with him, and Knoll’s closeness to Petersen also led to a relationship with the fallen soldier’s family.

Another soldier with Petersen at the time of the attack — Bobby Cheatham, from North Augusta, S.C. — described Petersen as a committed soldier “who would never leave you hot.” And Don Noble, from Broken Arrow, Okla., said he knew Petersen as a “smiling, laughing” young man.

 “No matter where you were, if he was walking through there, he was smiling and he was laughing,” Noble said. “You couldn’t help but when he walked away from you, in the conditions we were in, you’d be happy and you’d be laughing.”

Evangelista also made it clear that Petersen “did not die alone,” as he and his men stayed with Petersen until he breathed his last and made sure he was brought home for burial. After that, Evangelista said, he made it his mission to make sure that Petersen would never be forgotten — both as a soldier and as a man.

On Saturday, Smith expressed her — and her family’s — immeasurable gratitude for that.

“I cannot put into words today how much he means to me, to be able to face the Bravo men, and to tell them that Danny’s brothers and sisters thank them from the bottom of our hearts that they were with him over there, and that he did not die alone,” Smith said.