Va. Shore World War II vet, 94, recalls war in Pacific

One of the nation’s fast-dwindling number of World War II veterans lives in a ranch house down a country lane near Parksley in Accomack County.

Frank T. Peters, also known as “Pop,” 94, is a hero to those who know about his military service — and about the life he has lived in the decades since the war ended.

He still recalls in vivid detail his days serving in the U.S. Navy as a steward’s mate on the USS Haynsworth, a Sumner-class destroyer that saw heavy action in the Pacific theater during the war.

He was among 336 men, including 250 enlisted men, on the ship, serving in a military that, like schools, was still segregated.

The armed forces in the United States remained segregated until President Harry Truman issued a desegregation order in 1948.

About 1 million black Americans served in the armed forces during World War II, according to historian Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Peters is one of about 13,370 World War II veterans living in Virginia. Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, only 620,000 were still alive as of 2016, with 372 dying each day, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

For his service, Peters received the Pacific Theater Ribbon, the American Theater Ribbon and the Victory Medal, according to his discharge papers.

Peters is a Salisbury native. Born on Nov. 10, 1922, he was one of 10 children and was educated in Wicomico County public schools during the era of segregation.

He recounted the names of each of his teachers to a visitor.

"Japan has burned Pearl Harbor"

Peters worked several jobs after he finished school, including at Bethlehem Steel Co. in Sparrows Point, Maryland, and enlisted in the Navy as a reservist in 1938.

Peters was only 16 at the time, but the man he worked for signed for him, he said.

He recalls exactly where he was when he heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

“I was home Sunday morning listening to the radio. I said to myself, ‘Japan has burned Pearl Harbor.’ So I went and I registered. I was in the Navy reserves,” he said.

He was sent for training and then to Brooklyn Navy Yard, where the ship he would spend the war years on awaited.

“The ship was built in Massachusetts and she was finished off in Brooklyn Navy Yard,” he said.

He served on the Haynsworth throughout the rest of the war.

The USS Haynsworth received three battle stars during the war, according to a website dedicated to its history, usshaynsworth.org.

With Peters aboard, the Haynsworth set sail for the Pacific in September 1944 via the Panama Canal, arriving in Pearl Harbor on Oct. 20.

In December, the ship left Pearl Harbor to join in the final assault on the Japanese. The Haynsworth joined Vice Admiral John McCain’s Fast Carrier Task Force 38 and during the next three months operated with the 3rd and 5th fleets, seeing lots of action.

In late March, the ship sailed for Okinawa.

“I was in Okinawa on March the 31, 1945; when they invaded Okinawa, I was there. I was there when they dropped the two atomic bombs — one was dropped in Nagasaki and the other was dropped in Hiroshima,” Peters said.

He was stationed on the Haynsworth near Tokyo on Aug. 11, 1945, when the peace treaty between the United States and Japan was signed.

Peters was honorably discharged from the Navy on Jan. 6, 1946. “I was discharged at 9 a.m. that morning,” he said.

Life after the big war

Peters recently suffered a stroke and also has lost his eyesight. Still, he appears to see clearly in his mind’s eye the details of those long-ago times, as though they happened yesterday.

On the living room walls surrounding his armchair are dozens of plaques, photographs and other items that tell the story of a life well-lived — including his framed discharge certificate from the Navy and a black-and-white photograph of a dapper Peters in his uniform, taken in Baltimore when he was in his early twenties.

Peters was married to the late Mary Peters for more than 38 years, and a photograph of her as a young woman occupies a place of honor on one wall.

Peters moved to Virginia after the war and took a job with the Virginia Department of Transportation, where he worked more than 35 years before retiring.

The living room walls holds several certificates from the agency, praising his work.

“I worked 35 years, 4 months, 27 days and 12 hours for the highway department,” he said.

The walls also hold numerous plaques recognizing Peters for his church work.

Peters has been a faithful member of St. Luke’s AME Church in Daugherty for more than six decades. He joined the church in 1951, during a fall revival under the Rev. D. Williams. He served as chairman of the church's finance department for many years, until his 94th year.

“Not one time was it a penny off,” said fellow church member and military veteran, Charles E. Chandler, of Peters' strict accounting.

Chandler is one of Peters’ biggest fans.

“The two greatest men I ever met were Colin Powell and Mr. Peters,” he said, adding, “This is the man that I want my sons to use as an example of how a real man should be.”

St. Luke AME Church will celebrate Military Day in honor of all military veterans, including Peters, this Sunday, March 19, at 10 a.m.

“At 94 years old, we don’t know how much longer that we have to celebrate our hero,” Chandler said.

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