Ralph Peterson
Age: 85
Born: Dec. 21, 1925
Hometown: Grand Rapids, Mich
Residence: Rancho Mirage
Military branch: U.S. Army Air Corps; 8th Air Force; 34th Bomb Group; 18th Bomb Squadron
Years served: Jan. 5, 1944 - Oct. 9, 1945
Rank: Staff Sergeant
Family: Wife Bernice; two children, Jim Peterson of Idaho Falls, Idaho and Suzanne Peterson (deceased); three grandchildren, two of the grandchildren — Melissa White of Tampa, Fla. and Rochelle Carlson of Lake Zurich, Ill. (mother was Suzanne) — were raised by Ralph and Bernice Peterson; six great-grandchildren
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Ralph Peterson was assigned to his position on a B-17 bomber shortly after the 18-year-old met his crew.
“They took our picture when we were assembled at MacDill Field,” in Tampa, Fla., Peterson said, pointing to a photo where he was standing in the back row. “They said, ‘You're the shortest one — you fly ball turret.”
Peterson flew 33 combat missions from the precariously positioned ball turret — a mechanical sphere armed with two, .50-caliber machine guns — that hung out from under the belly of the aircraft.
After arriving in England, the crew — members of the 34th Bomb Group, 18th Bomb Squadron — waited for their first assignment.
Peterson said a crew would be alerted the night before a mission, so it would be ready to go in the morning.
His first experience was a little more jarring — he was told at the very last minute.
“My very first mission... they woke me up at 3:30 in the morning and said, ‘Peterson, you're flying.'”
The ball turret gunner on another crew was sick and Peterson was needed to fly in his place — with a bunch of guys he didn't even know.
It turned out to be his most perilous mission of all.
The target was a railroad marshalling yard at Bad Kreuznach, Germany.
“Right over the target we take a hit in the number four engine,” Peterson said. “We were pulling over-boost on number three. Even before we started back over the English Channel, we've got two engines out on the same side.”
During this time, Peterson said he pictured the pilots in the cockpit, with their feet pressed against the dashboard, trying with all their might to keep the plane in flight.
The pilots managed to get the aircraft — and the men aboard — home safely.
“When we landed at the base, I said, ‘Peterson, you're in the right airplane.'”
When he returned to his own crew, the combat “veteran” had a little fun with the guys.
“I said, ‘Hey, you bunch of rookies!,'” Peterson said, laughing at the memory.
Thirty-two of the his missions were flown over Germany (the other mission was a bomb run to Aussig, Czechoslovakia) — including three trips to Munich and two to Berlin.
Peterson's squadron flew in the massive bombardment mission over Dresden in February, 1945 — two days of raids involving a combined total of nearly 1,300 bombers from the 8th Air Force and Royal Air Force Bomber Command.
Accompanying the men on all of their missions was the thunderous blasts of 88mm anti-aircraft fire exploding all around the sky.
His missions were grueling — Peterson was sometimes couped up inside the ball turret for up to eight hours; six hours was the average — but he kept his composure and focused on the job at hand.
“It never bothered me a bit,” he said.
But, “We came back one time with 150 holes in the airplane. One hit a glancing blow on the door,” of the ball turret.
He constantly kept his eye out for enemy aircraft, and once, he knocked an Me-109 German fighter plane out of the sky.
He also kept a lookout for the men in his squadron.
“One of my jobs was — if an airplane was burning or going down, I would always watch it and count the chutes to see how many guys got out,” he said.
On every mission, there was always the chance it would be his last — but he kept a positive attitude.
“I thought, ‘Somebody's going to be shot down, but it's not going to be me.'”
Staff writer Denise Goolsby will profile desert veterans from World War II on Sundays. Contact her at (760) 778-4587 or via e-mail at denise.goolsby@ thedesertsun.com
