World War II Medal of Honor Recipient. He was issued the award posthumously on February 8, 1946, for his actions as a private with Company G, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division, US Army, on March 24, 1945, near Fluren, Germany. He joined the US Army in 1943 and following his recruit and combat training, he was sent to the European Theater of Operations. On that day, during Operation Varsity, he and other members of his unit parachuted into an opening near Fluren, Germany, and quickly became engaged in a heavy firefight with enemy positions nearby. Seeing the grave situation with his members in danger of being killed, he performed a one-man charge against the enemy that distracted them from the others, allowing then time to free themselves and defend their position, and he was killed in the process. His Medal of Honor citation reads: "Pvt. Peters, a platoon radio operator with Company G, made a descent into Germany near Fluren, east of the Rhine. With 10 others, he landed in a field about 75 yards from a German machine gun supported by riflemen and was immediately pinned down by heavy, direct fire. The position of the small unit seemed hopeless, with the men struggling to free themselves of their parachutes in a hail of bullets that cut them off from their nearby equipment bundles, when Pvt. Peters stood up without orders and began a one-man charge against the hostile emplacement armed only with a rifle and grenades. His singlehanded assault immediately drew the enemy fire away from his comrades. He had run halfway to his objective, pitting rifle fire against that of the machine gun, when he was struck and knocked to the ground by a burst. Heroically, he regained his feet and struggled onward. Once more he was torn by bullets, and this time he was unable to rise. With gallant devotion to his self-imposed mission, he crawled directly into the fire that had mortally wounded him until close enough to hurl grenades which knocked out the machine gun, killed two of its operators, and drove protecting riflemen from their positions into the safety of a woods. By his intrepidity and supreme sacrifice, Pvt. Peters saved the lives of many of his fellow soldiers and made it possible for them to reach their equipment, organize, and seize their first objective."