Project 888
Name: Glenn Harley PETERSON
Rank / Rating: S1-Seaman First ClassService #: 757 65 56 DOB: Aug 15, 1925 From: Sherwood, North Dakota Parents: Harold Peterson and Mathilda Peterson Went Aboard: June 12, 1945 Age When Ship Went Down: 19 years, 11 months, 15 days Spouse: Children: Grandchildren: Bio Submitted By: Bonnie Peterson (Niece) |
 PETERSON, Glenn H |
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Glenn H Peterson was born August 15, 1925, in Sherwood, North Dakota. Sherwood is a small town in a farming community in the north central part of the state, two miles from the Canadian border.
He was the youngest child of Mathilda and Harold Peterson. Glenn had one older sister, Gladys and five older brothers, Harry, Herman, Raymond, Lyle and Kenneth.
Glenn graduated from Sherwood High School with the class of 1943. He was a very good basketball player.
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| April 12, 1943, he enlisted in the Navy and trained at Farragut Naval Station in Idaho. He joined three older brothers in the service: Herman in the Air Force, Raymond and Lyle in the Army. May 21, 1944 he was in the Bay Area, Tiburon, Mare Island. When off duty time came, he would go bike riding in Berkeley and rode around the University of California campus and remarked in a letter to his dad "sure is a nice place and big, too." In March 1945, Lyle Peterson, Glenn's brother in the Army, was killed in action in Germany. July 4, 1945, at Mare Island on the USS Indianapolis he wrote home. The letter was mailed off ship in Vallejo 1st, "First of next week we are going to Hunter's Point, probably go to San Diego for a shakedown cruise, leave states the end ofJuly. This is a cruiser and not too bad of a ship, bigger than I figured on getting." Ina letter to sister-in-law, Helen, dated July 14, 1945, Glenn wrote, "Last Monday we took our trial run out to sea to test the guns and engines. We went out about seventy miles. It wasn't too rough so I didn't get sea sick but I suppose I will when we go out. I sure hope that I don't get sick. You could really feel it when they fired those big guns. That part was kind of fun. We also tested our radio equipment. We came back Tuesday. Right now we are anchored in the bay here. We pull out Monday so we should be in Pearl Harbor next Friday or Saturday. From there we will probably go to Guam and out from there." In closing his letter, Glenn wrote, "write to me and don't worry, I'll be okay." The loss of Glenn was extremely difficult for his mother. Raymond wrote "He was the youngest and the past few years it was just mom and him at home. He always was her favorite... not that I blame her. He was such a good kid." Gladys also remarked that Glenn was a real sweet kid. A memorial service for Glenn 11 Peterson was held in the Sherwood Lutheran Church on November 11, 1945. The American Legion Post in Sherwood, ND is named after Glenn H. Peterson. | |
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