Manila American Cemetery Memorial

Following partial bio from Together We Served writer Kirstin Howard's Bio for Warren Clifford Peterson used with permission.

"Warren Clifford Peterson was born 11 July 1915 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois to Carl Ingwald Peterson (1885-1951) and Susanna Katerin Larsen Peterson (1887-1967). Warren's father, Carl, was born in Minnesota to Norwegian immigrants, and he worked as a printer or in the printing business for most of his career. Warren's mother, Susanna, immigrated from Norway to the United States with her family around 1889 when she was about 2 years old. Warren's parents married on 15 Dec. 1905 in Michigan and had four children Theodore, William, Warren, and Lorraine.

Warren Peterson grew up in Chicago, Illinois and attended local schools. He dreamed of flying airplanes, and he and a friend bought an old, open cockpit double-wing plane and went barnstorming during the Great Depression. Warren became a test pilot for Lockheed and then worked as an airline pilot for Trans World Airlines (TWA). In 1940, he registered for the draft as a reserve pilot while he lived in Kansas City, Missouri and was working for TWA at the municipal airport. Warren Peterson filled out his draft card describing himself as 5'7" tall, weighing 150 pounds, with blonde hair, blue eyes and a ruddy complexion.  

Within a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Warren was called up for service and enlisted in the Army Air Forces in Los Angeles County, California at age 26 or 27 as an officer (Service ID# O-421925). He was assigned to the Headquarters 3rd Ferrying Squadron, 1st Ferrying Group in the 10th Air Force stationed in India at the rank of captain. Captain Peterson's duty was to fly supplies in cargo planes from India over the Himalaya mountains to Chinese troops battling the Japanese invasion of their homeland. He wrote letters home often from India. His sister Lorraine said, "He thanked God that he wasn't taking any lives, he was saving them flying in cargo". Captain Peterson flew 367 hours in the Indo-China Theater, including 17 missions and 104 hours over "the Hump", the nickname for the Himalayas. "To keep the transports away from Japanese fighters, the Hump route ran north from India's Assam Valley across the lower reaches of the Himalayas, then east to Chungking. The route kept the transports out of range of Japanese fighters in southern Burma, but the higher elevations of the airfields in Assam reduced the performance of the [planes] considerably, leading to frequent takeoff and landing accidents. Those airplanes that did manage to get off the ground with their heavy burdens were subject to strong winds, turbulence, and ice over the mountains that lay between the Indian bases and their destinations inside China."

On 20 Dec. 1942, 27-year-old Captain Warren C. Peterson flew a modified C-47 cargo plane nicknamed "Lady Luck" (ID #41-20098) from Chabua, India over "the hump" to Yunnani, China with Staff Sergeant George R. Lingenfelter (Service ID #35168040) and mechanic Pfc. Forrest C. Reynolds (Service ID #37008324) on board. Captain Peterson successfully delivered his cargo and then started the return trip to India along with 2 other transport planes. Heavy fog was reported over the Assam Valley in India, and two of the planes turned back while Lady Luck pressed onward. Captain Peterson last contacted his base at 7:55 p.m. when his plane was thirty minutes from its destination, but the plane never arrived. An extensive search was made for the possible wreckage for the next several weeks, but none was found. Carl and Susanna Peterson received the news during the 1942 Christmas season that their son was missing in action. The Petersons waited throughout the war for word on the fate of their son. As the war ended and American prisoners of war returned home from Asia, Warren Peterson was not among them and was classified as FOD (finding of death). Susanna Peterson waited until 2 April 1950 to hold a memorial service for her son Warren, always hoping he would return home. His memorial service was held at the North Austin Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chicago.  

Warren C. Peterson's name was engraved on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in Taguig City, Philippines. His mother, father, and oldest brother Theodore (who also served in the army during WWII ID# 36344011) passed away without ever knowing the fate of their beloved family member. 

Then in August 1974, an Indian hunter on the slopes of the Himalayas came across the wreckage of a plane and human remains in the Assam region of northern India near the Chinese border that was only accessible a few months of the year due to snow. The hunter contacted the Indian government about the discovery, who then contacted the US authorities. Unfortunately the wreckage was in a sensitive area close to the border where the Indian government did not permit foreigners. It took three years of negotiations coupled with delays due to snow and weather, but finally an Indian army rescue climbing team made the recovery of three bodies and George Lingenfelter's identification tag in Sept. 1977. A United States Army team took possession of the remains in New Delhi, India, and then they were flown to Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands for identification through physical and dental records. By January 13, 1978 positive identifications were made on the remains, and the army authorities transferred the airmen to California and began looking for the airmen's families to claim their loved ones' remains."

S/O Susanna Katherin (Larsen) & Carl Ingwall Peterson

Service # O-421925

Unit Headquarters Squadron, 1st Ferry Group

Rank Captain U.S. Army Air Forces

Entered Service From California 

Date of Death December 12 1945

Status Recovered

★ Purple Heart

Douglas C-53 Skytrooper #41-20098 : Crew.

Capt. Warren C Peterson, O-421925, CA, Pilot, Los Angeles

SSGT George R Lingenfelter, 35168040, IN, Indianapolis Memorial & Burial

PFC Forrest C Reynolds, 37008324, CO, Omaha, NE Memorial & Burial

Wife was believed to have been Francis Elizabeth Ice (m. 1941) see attached news article,

Frances Ice married Dr. Leland Speer, a lieutenant in the naval reserve, a month later in July 1941. Per the Chicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois · Tuesday, February 21, 1978, Warren was married but further research failed to produce whom she was.

Source material from multiple public domain websites.

Together We Served

Together We Served writer Kirstin Howard (complete bio link attached to Warren's personal photo.)

Ancestry

fold3 by Ancestry 

Remembered by Buffalo (50696055)