PETERSON PVT 1/C Anthony Earl "Tony"

PETERSON, LEBARON, WALSWICK, BAY

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 11/19/2016 at 02:08:40

Obituary ~ PVT 1/C Anthony Earl "Tony" Peterson
July 16, 1949 ~ July 03, 1969

The Des Moines Register
Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa
Thursday, July 10, Page 5

Mason City G.I. Dies in Vietnam

Mason City, IA -- Army Pfc Anthony E. Peterson, 19, of Mason City, has been killed in Vietnam fighting, his family here has been notified.

Private Peterson was killed July 3. He had been stationed near Ben Het. He had been in the Army six months and in Vietnam less than three weeks.

He was a 1968 graduate of Mason City High School. He was in D Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry, 199th Infantry Brigade.

Surviving are his wife and son; his sister, Robin and a brother Donald; his maternal grandmother, Irene Lebaron; his paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Herman [Elvina (Walswick)] Peterson, all of Mason City; his father, Robert of Riverside, Calif.; his step great-grandmother Johanna (Bay) Peterson; numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Daisy (Lebaron) Peterson; his grandfather Christopher Peterson; his maternal great-grandparents, Alfred and Anna Walswick; his paternal great-grandparents Jens and Christina Peterson, and step great-grandfather Carl Marinus Peterson; and a nephew.

[Interment was made at Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery, Mason City IA.]

NOTE: Tony lived with his grandparents, Herman and Elvina Peterson in Mason City, Iowa and attended Mason City High School, graduating with the Class of 1968. Tony joined the Army in 1968 and was sent to Vietnam, serving as an infantryman. On July 3, 1969 Company D was on a reconnaissance patrol mission [Long Khanh Province, South Vietnam] and the patrol was moving through a dense jungle area, when it was caught in an intense crossfire from heavily fortified and concealed enemy ambush positions. Military spokesmen reported that North Vietnamese troops opened fire on U.S. infantrymen, who entered an enemy base camp 27 miles NE of Saigon, killing nine and wounding 19 soldiers. The fight raged from noon to night fall. Those killed:
2nd Lt Robert Allen Layton Jr., 24, Curneys Point NY;
Cpl Michael F. Follard, 20, received Medal of Honor & Purple Heart;
Cpl Richard Wayne Felt, 22, Maumee OH;
Cpl Bill Henry Terry, 20, Birmingham AL;
Cpl Robert Alan Lewis, 21, Moultrid GA;
Sp4 Tthomas Nicolas Motto, 20, Mineola NY;
Pfc Darrel E. Nichols, 22, Montgomery WVA;
Pfc Takeshi Sato, 22, Port Hueneme CA;
and Pfc Anthony Peterson, 19, awarded Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, November of 2016

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