He hasn't seen out of his right eye in more than 58 years and macular degeneration the past seven years has reduced his left eye to an official status of legally blind, but E.W. "Pete" Petersen continues to see his life in 20-20 clarity, and that includes the day his sightlessness began.
It was cold and clear at 4,000 feet as Lt. Petersen, U.S. Navy, piloted his PB4Y1 "Blue Raider" bomber through the skies of the Western Pacific the second day of January, 1945. Below, he and his crew of 10 looked out on nothing but unending miles of ocean, searching for signs of the enemy. The world was at war and so were they, a thousand miles from their home base of tiny Tinian Island, carrying out an "anti-snooping" mission to gather intelligence about enemy activity for the 3rd Fleet. Tokyo was 300 miles to the north. The closest land was a tiny speck of an island called Iwo Jima, about 50 miles to the west.
Then, suddenly, at precisely 1430 hours, the Blue Raider's co-pilot, Wallace "Robbie" Robinson, shouted, "Enemy ship below," and 11 pairs of eyes sighted in on a 4,000-ton Japanese freighter headed straight for Iwo Jima.
The Blue Raider's bays were filled with fuel, not bombs, because this was a reconnaissance mission and distance, not damage, was the top priority. But the .50-caliber guns mounted in the wings and nose were full of bullets and the big Japanese boat, lugging in the heavy seas, was too tempting a target.
"We're goin' in," said Petersen in the rural twang he'd learned growing up on the family farm in Newton, Cache County.
Fifty-eight years later, sitting in the kitchen of his pleasant home in the Riverdale section of Ogden with his wife, Pete Petersen retells a narrative he's told hundreds of times. How he put the Blue Raider into a 50-degree dive and made three swift strafing runs at the freighter. How the ammunition on board the ship exploded, sending barrels and ship parts toward the sky and the big boat toward the bottom of the ocean.
And how, on yet another dive to take pictures to document the "kill," a Japanese anti-aircraft gunner sent a bullet into the Blue Raider's cockpit, killing the co-pilot and sending pieces of Robbie Robinson's skull into Lt. Petersen's right eye.
Briefly knocked cold, Petersen regained consciousness just in time to pull the plane out of its dive 50 feet from the ocean and aim with his one good eye for Tinian.
Fighting shock, nausea, pain and blurred vision, he managed to land the plane several hours later without spilling a drop of the hot water from the cup his crew mates had set on the instrument panel for their injured but still capable pilot.
Pete Petersen has lived his life since Jan. 2, 1945, without a right eye, but it hasn't slowed him down. If anything, it's sped him up. He's played golf and boated his entire life, he was a ski patrolman at Park City for 25 years, and right up until the day he retired, his 36-year dental practice was a model of efficiency and precision.
And while it's true that the loss of his right eye may have contributed to the degeneration of his left eye and the grayish-black world he now negotiates, the 83-year-old World War II veteran doesn't flinch when asked if he'd do it all again.
"You mean go back?" he says. "Oh hell yes, in a second. We were fighting for freedom."
As another Independence Day approaches, just thought you'd like to know.
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com.