M/GEN. Chesley G. Peterson, 69, died Sunday, January 28, 1990, at March Air Force Base Hospital, in Riverside, California. Former Ogden resident, who as a 19 year old, bluffed his way into the Air Force and went on to become a highly decorated Ace for both Great Britain and the United States. Peterson was born in Salmon, Idaho, and attended school in Santaquin and Brigham Young University. He quit at age 19 and forged a birth certificate to get into military pilot training. He was discovered two months later and kicked out. In 1940, more than a year before his country entered World War II, Peterson went to England and joined the RAF's Eagle Squadron, a group of foreign volunteers. Flying Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires in battles with the German Luftwaffe, Peterson advanced to squadron commander at age 21, and Colonel at age 23. He kept the rank when he moved to the U.S. Army Air Corps to fly P47 Thunderbolts in 1943. He remained the Air Forces' youngest colonel. In flying more than 200 combat missions, Peterson claimed nine kills and nine more probable kills. He parachuted from battle damaged Spitfires twice. Peterson is the only American fighter pilot to win both the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross and Britains Distinguished Service Order, respectively each country's second highest military decoration. Peterson retired to Ogden, where his mother and sister lived in 1970. For medical reasons he moved to an Air Force retirement village in Riverside, in October.
He is survived by his wife, Audrey Boyes, whom he married during the war in London; two children, Karen Peterson, Ogden; Michael Peterson, Long Beach, California; sister, Mrs. Wayne L. (Jean) Clayson, Ogden.
A funeral with full military honors is scheduled for 2 p.m., Friday, at the Riverside National Cemetery. Family will meet friends, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Akes Funeral Home, 9695 Magnolia Ave in Riverside. Local funeral directors: Lindquist's Ogden Mortuary. The family requests contributions be made to the American Cancer Society or the Hill Air Force Base Museum.
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