To the editor:

Sixty years ago on March 9, 1966, my brother Delbert Peterson died in Vietnam.

Delbert was born on May 11, 1939, the first of seven children born to Bernice and Raymond Peterson of Manson.

Delbert graduated from Manson High School in May 1957.

He entered Iowa State University in the fall of 1957. He enrolled in ROTC at Iowa State and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force upon graduation from Iowa State in July 1962.

In August 1965 Delbert was assigned to receive special training flying the AC-47, a Douglas DC-3 commercial airliner converted for military use. The AC-47 had a row of 7.62 millimeter mini-guns mounted along the left side of its fuselage and could fly overhead shooting precise gunfire. The craft was dubbed “Puff the Magic Dragon,” after a popular song because it resembled a dragon overhead with flames billowing from its guns. The AC-47 was designed to fly at night.

In November 1965 Delbert was assigned to Vietnam.

On March 9, 1966, the Special Forces camp in A Shau Valley in northern South Vietnam came under attack by some 2,000 North Vietnamese regulars. The defenders of the camp were in danger of being overrun.

At 11:20 a.m. on March 9, Capt. Willard Collins and his AC-47 crew, just in from a night mission, were detached to support the A Shau camp. 1st Lt. Delbert Peterson was co-pilot, along with four other crew members.

They located the camp and made a firing pass. Because of low clouds the AC-47 took hits as it flew low rather than at the usual altitude of 3,000 feet and usually at night. As they approached the camp on the second pass, the right engine was hit and then the left engine was knocked out. They made a crash landing, all members of the crew surviving with minor injuries. They knew an enemy attack was inevitable so they set up defense at the site.

The crew, confident a rescue helicopter would answer their call, repulsed two attacks but Collins and a crewmember were killed in the firefight.

The third attack began as the sound of a helicopter was heard.1st Lt. Peterson was now in command of the crew and when an enemy machine gun was firing just yards from the plane, Delbert knew if the gun was not silenced the chopper would likely be shot down before it could rescue the remaining airmen. He charged the enemy machine gun firing from his M-16 rifle. Hostile fire immediately diminished as the helicopter dropped down to pick up the three remaining crewmembers, leaving Delbert and the two dead men behind.

Both Delbert and Collins were awarded the Air Force Cross posthumously. This was one of the few instances in the Vietnam War when both pilots of an aircraft were honored with the nation’s second highest decoration for valor. And it was the only mission in which the Air Medal was awarded to both for extraordinary heroism in both air and ground combat.

In the mid-1990s, villagers near the crash site found Delbert’s identification tag, a chain and key. Excavations later revealed a military identification card and a religious medal, but no remains.

I am proud of my brother, a true hero. He gave his life that others may live. You will never be forgotten.

Chuck Peterson

(and on behalf of my siblings)

Fort Dodge