Frederick Thornton Peters VC DSO (1889 - 1942)

Born 17 Sep 1889 in Charlottetown, Queens, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Ancestors

Died 13 Nov 1942 at age 53 in Plymouth Sound, England

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Biography

Frederick Peters VC DSO is Notable.

Birth

Frederick “Fritz” Peters, known as "The Bravest Canadian", was born on 17 September 1889 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. His parents were Frederick Peters, (Premier of Prince Edward Island, 1891–1897), and Roberta Hamilton Susan Gray, daughter of John Hamilton Gray, (Premier of P.E.I. at the time of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864). He was educated at St. Peter's Private School on Prince Edward Island, at school in British Columbia, and at the Naval College in England. Two of Peters' brothers died in action on the Western Front during the First World War—John Francklyn Peters in April 1915 and Gerald Hamilton Peters in June 1916^[1] Although he was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1889, he lived in Victoria, British Columbia from age eight until joining the Royal Navy in January 1905 at age 15. The Peters family lived in Oak Bay and later Esquimalt before moving to Prince Rupert in 1911.

Peters was nicknamed "Fritz" by his family because he was obsessed with all things military from his earliest years. In P.E.I. he was keen on a career as a soldier like his grandfather, the Father of Confederation Colonial John Hamilton Gray, but in B.C. his interest changed to the navy as a result of watching warships of the Royal Navy pass by within sight of his home.

In Victoria he was a student of Rev. William Washington Bolton, former rector of St. Paul's Church, who ran a small school out of his home on Belcher Avenue. In his schools Bolton emphasized character building ahead of scholarship, with plenty of team sports, outdoor activities and boxing in the tradition of British private schools. In 1906 Bolton co-founded University School, now known as St. Michael's University School. Starting in 1900, Peters attended private schools in England, including three terms at a preparatory school in Maidenhead, England where navy courses were part of the curriculum. ^[2]

Military Service

Canada's most decorated naval hero, Captain Frederic Thornton "Fritz" Peters, VC, DSO, DSC and Bar, DSC (U.S.), RN, has the rare distinction of receiving multiple awards for valor in each of the world wars. He commanded the HMS Walney

His military career encompassed three stints of service. After cadet training in 1905, he went to sea as a midshipman with the Channel Fleet, and then served on gunboats and destroyers in the China Station of Weihai before retirement as a lieutenant in 1913.

First World War

Commander Frederick Peters VC DSO served in the Royal Navy in World War I
Service started: 1905
Unit(s):
Service ended: 1919

Captain Peters entered the Royal Navy as Midshipman in 1905 and began the First World War as a lieutenant. He retired in 1919 at the age of thirty as a Commander, having won the Distinguished Service Order and the British Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). He subsequently split his time between Britain, Canada, and the Gold Coast.

At the outbreak of war in 1914 he rejoined, and served on destroyers, first as senior officer and later as a commander, until his retirement as a lieutenant commander in 1920.

Two of his brothers died early in WWI. On April 24, 1915, Private John Francklyn Peters died while serving with the 7th British Columbia Battalion in the Second Battle of Ypres when poison gas was used for the first time in a German offensive. Lieutenant Gerald Hamilton Peters died in the Mount Sorrel counterattack in the Ypres Salient on June 3, 1916, while also serving with the 7th British Columbia Battalion.

While serving as a lieutenant on the destroyer HMS Meteor during the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915, Fritz was mentioned in dispatches and received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) medal for his actions that saved two lives when the ship’s engine room was hit by a shell from the German cruiser Blucher. He was the first Canadian in the war to receive the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) medal for his actions that saved the lives of two ratings when the ship’s engine room was hit by a shell from the German cruiser Blucher. He was the first Canadian in the war to receive the DSO, the medal for bravery second only to the Victoria Cross.".^[3]

Later in the Great War he took command of destroyers and received the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) in 1918 for “showing exceptional initiative ability and zeal in submarine hunting operations and complete disregard of danger, exceptional coolness and ingenuity in his attacks on enemy submarines.” His navy colleagues particularly admired his courage and skill in hazardous rescues at sea where enemy subs were a constant threat.

WWI Military Medals

• DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER (DSO) - March 3rd, 1915: Lt Frederick Thornton Peters
• DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS (DSC) - March 8th, 1918: Lt Frederick Thornton Peters
• 1914 STAR
  

Second World War

Frederick Peters VC DSO is a Military Veteran.
Served in the British Royal Navy 15 May 1906-13 Nov 1942
Died in an airplane accident

Frederick Peters VC DSO was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Captain Frederick Peters VC DSO Died in Military Service during World War II.

When the Second World War broke out in 1939, he rejoined the Royal Navy, commanding a flotilla of anti-sub trawlers that sank two enemy subs, for which he was awarded a bar (which designates a second award) to his Distinguished Service Cross in 1940. He later went back and forth between naval service and work with Section D (for destruction) of Britain`s Secret Intelligence Service, including command of a spying and sabotage school in Hertfordshire for expatriates who returned to their native countries in Occupied Europe to combat the Nazis.

In 1942 he took charge of the most dangerous mission in the Allied invasion of North Africa - an audacious attack by a mostly American force in two former U.S. Coast Guard cutters to secure Oran harbor in the French colony of Algeria for the invasion. Landings at 1 am on Nov. 8, 1942, on the beaches west and east of Oran by American troops had met little resistance from French defenders, but two hours later they reacted with full force from Oran shore batteries and warships moored in the harbor when Peters' ship HMS Walney along with HMS Hartland broke through a boom of logs, chains and barges and proceeded towards their goal of taking over French warships and port facilities with commandos. Video Operation Torch Despite suffering 90% casualties and facing point blank fire from all directions, Peters was able to direct his ship for a mile and a half through the narrow harbor and land Walney beside its target berth. At great personal risk, he assisted with the landing lines in the front and back of the 250 ft.-long ship. Wounded in the shoulder and blinded in one eye, he was taken prisoner along with fellow survivors. Two days later he was freed by American troops who had captured the city, and carried through the streets of Oran in triumph^[4]

The Walney was in the lead. Riding her was Squadron Commander, Captain R.T. Peters, RN, who had come out of retirement to volunteer for the "Death of Glory" mission. As she began her swift approach it became apparent that the French defenders of Oran were not only aware of her presence, but they were also full of fight as well. Huge searchlights from shore caught the Walney in their glaring beams and she immediately came under heavy automatic gunfire.

Undaunted by the heavy rain of shells and partially screened by smoke generated by escorting motor launches, Captain Peters drove the Walney head on into the log boom and crashed through it. Once past this barrier the Walney found the narrow entrance the harbor blocked by the French Sloop LA Surprise, attempting to sortie. The French ship after narrowly avoiding a collision with the Walney poured heavy gunfire into her at point blank range, wrecking the Walney's machinery spaces and putting her out of control. the Walney's headway carried her on into the confines of the harbor where she came under a murderous crossfire from several French submarines and a French destroyer. With his ship helpless and nearly 76% casualties on board, Captain Peters gave the order to abandon ship. The French took prisoner those who managed to reach shore. Not long after she was abandoned, the Walney capsized and sank.

The Hartland fared no better as she followed close astern of the Walney. She too was spotlighted in the bright glare of the searchlights and had to run through the same gauntlet of heavy gunfire. Driven off course by withering blasts of gunfire which caused casualties to her bridge personnel, including her CO, The Hartland missed the narrow entrance on her first try and struck the southern jetty. She backed off and lined up for another try. This time she cleared the hole, but immediate came under fire at extremely close range from the French Destroyer Typhon. After unsuccessfully trying to moor alongside a trawler, The Hartland ... battered and reeling ... drifted aimlessly. Fires spread rapidly below decks driving personnel topside where they were mowed down by relentless machinegun fire coming from all directions. With more than 50% casualties on board and the ship a mass of flames from stem to stern, the Hartland was abandoned. Her survivors, like the Walny's, were taken prisoner. Later she blew up.

During the period that the survivors of the Walney and the Hartland were prisoners, the French defenders of Oran methodically destroyed its port facilities and blocked the harbor with scuttled ships, thus carrying out the very acts of sabotage that the daring mission was supposed to prevent. The French garrison at Oran nearly encircled on land and cut off any support by sea, held out until the morning of November 10 when American armor and infantry stormed into the center of the city.^[5]

Tragically, three days later, on Friday, November 13, 1942, he died when the Sunderland flying boat transporting him from Gibraltar back to England encountered fierce headwinds and then heavy fog and instrument failure that resulted in the plane crashing into Plymouth Sound, flipping over and splitting apart. The 11 Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) crew members miraculously all survived the crash, but Peters and the four other VIP passengers died, either from the impact of the crash or from exposure in the water. Unhurt in the crash, the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Wynton Thorpe, found Peters still alive in the water and valiantly tried to drag him to safety as he swam to a breakwater, giving up in exhaustion after about an hour when it was obvious that Peters was dead. A rescue boat from shore arrived about half an hour later to pick up survivors.^[6]

For his part in the action at Oran, Algeria Frederic Peters posthumously received both the Victoria Cross and the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross, the highest honor the Americans bestowed on foreigners.

The American honor and the British Insult

After her husband's death in 1919 Peters' mother Bertha Gray Peters went to live with her daughter Helen Dewdney's family in the West Kootenay region of southeastern B.C. It was at the Dewdney home in Nelson on February 2, 1944, that the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross was presented to Bertha as Peters' next-of-kin by a delegation representing President Roosevelt that included officers from Edmonton and a brass band. Bertha - crippled and bedridden as a result of a serious fall downstairs a decade earlier - was angry when Peters' Victoria Cross arrived in the regular mail with no ceremony, such a stark contrast to the respectful American presentation. ^[2]

At the time, the unceremonious delivery of the Victoria Cross was believed to be an administrative error in wartime. But in fact, Peters' VC was intentionally downplayed by the British government to avoid offending the French who had resumed as allies against Hitler and did not like to be reminded of their vigorous action against the Allies in Oran harbor. Military files that became public in the 1970s show that British Admiral Andrew Cunningham issued an order on December 13, 1942, that "silence is the best policy" regarding the Oran VC.

At the urging of the Nelson Board of Trade, a mountain of modest height on the western outskirts of Nelson was named Mt. Peters in his honor in March 1946, just a few months before his mother`s death. The only memorial for him in Britain is the listing of his name on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial among sailors of all ranks lost at sea.

WWII Military Medals

• DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS (DSC) - UK - July 11th, 1940: Cmdr. Frederick Thornton Peters -H.M.S. Thirlmere, Royal Navy. Awarded for good services in the Royal Navy since the outbreak of War. Second DSC received in the form of a bar to be worn on the ribbon of the first DSC.
• DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS (DSC) - USA - January 19th, 1943: Capt. Frederick Thornton Peters

"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Captain Frederick Thornton Peters, Royal British Navy, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while in command of the ship carrying Landing Forces of the United States Army into the harbor of Oran, Morocco, in the early morning of 8 November 1942. Captain Peters distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism against an armed enemy during the attack on that post. He remained on the bridge in command of his ship in spite of the fact that the protective armor thereon had been blown away by enemy shell fire and was thereby exposed personally to the withering crossfire from shore defenses. He accomplished the berthing of his ship, then went to the forward deck and assisted by one officer secured the forward mooring lines. He then with utter disregard of his own personal safety went to the quarter-deck and assisted in securing the aft mooring lines so that the troops on board could disembark. At that time the engine room was in flames and very shortly thereafter exploded and the ship turned on its side and sank." (Permission to wear the decoration on his uniform was granted, per The London Gazette, dated January 19th, 1943').

• VICTORIA CROSS (VC) - May 18th, 1943: Acting Captain Frederick Thornton Peters - H.M.S. Walney, Royal Navy

"For valour in taking H.M.S. Walney, in an enterprise of desperate hazard, into the harbour of Oran on the 8th November, 1942. Captain Peters led his force through the boom towards the jetty in the face of point-blank fire from shore batteries, a Destroyer and a Cruiser. Blinded in one eye, he alone of the seventeen Officers and Men on the bridge survived. The Walney reached the jetty disabled and ablaze and went down with her colours flying."^[7]

• DEFENCE MEDAL 1939-1945
  
• WAR MEDAL 1939-1945
  
• DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS (DSC) (George V)
• DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER (DSO) (George V), (London Gazette 8 March 1918; and Bar London Gazette 11 July 1940)
• BRITSH WAR MEDAL
• VICTORY MEDAL, 1939-45 Star
• AFRICA STAR with BAR (North Africa 1942-43) 1939-45

The citation in the London Gazette of 14th May 1943, reads:

Captain Peters was in the suicide charge" by two little cutters at Oran. The "Walney" and "Hartland" were two ex-American coastguard cutters which were lost in a gallant attempt to force the boom defences in the harbour of Oran during the landings on the North African coast. Captain Peters led his force through the boom in the face of point-blank fire from shore batteries, destroyer and a cruiser - a feat which was described as one of the great episodes of naval history. The "Walney" reached the jetty disabled and ablaze and went down with her colours flying. Blinded in one eye, Captain Peters was the only survivor of the seventeen men on the bridge of the "Walney". He was taken prisoner but was later released when Oran was captured. On being liberated from the gaol, he was carried through the streets where the citizens hailed him with flowers. He won the D.S.O. and D.S.C. in the last war.

• DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS (DSC) (USA)
• U.S. ARMY DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS (DSC) for the same actions

The citation, issued in Allied Force Headquarters General Orders No. 19 November 23, 1942, stated that:

"Captain Peters distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism against an armed enemy during the attack on that post. He remained on the bridge in command of his ship in spite of the fact that the protective armor thereon had been blown away by enemy shell fire and was thereby exposed personally to the withering crossfire from shore defenses. He accomplished the berthing of his ship, then went to the forward deck and assisted by one officer secured the forward mooring lines. He then with utter disregard of his own personal safety went to the quarter-deck and assisted in securing the aft mooring lines so that the troops on board could disembark. At that time the engine room was in flames and very shortly thereafter exploded and the ship turned on its side and sank."

• ATLANTIC STAR - May 1945
  

See the Lord Ashcroft Medal Collection

Other Medals

• SILVER MESSINA EARTHQUAKE MEDAL - Italian government

In recognition of his service in leading shore rescue parties during the evacuation of the population in danger from the erupting volcano, Mount Messina in 1908.

Death

Capt. Peters died in an aircraft accident on 13 November 1942 (aged 53) near the Plymouth Sound, England. His body was lost at sea.^[8]

Postmortem

In addition to his service with the Royal Navy, Fritz worked with British Naval Intelligence and advised Prime Minister Winston Churchill. British double agent Kim Philby noted his admiration for Secret Intelligence Service instruction leader "Commander Peters" in his book My Silent War.

Mount Peters near Nelson, British Columbia, where his mother lived in her last years with the family of her daughter Helen Dewdney and her husband E.E.L. Dewdney, was named in his honor in 1946. A display of photos and panels on his life is on the main floor of the Daniel J. MacDonald Building in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. His name, along with the names of his three brothers who served in the First World War, is on memorial plaques in the St. Peter's Anglican Church in Charlottetown.

Sources

1. ↑ Canadian Virtual War Memorial
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Sam McBride; "The Bravest Canadian - Fritz Peters VC: The Making of a Hero of Two World Wars", Granville Island Publishing; 1st edition (September 29, 2012)
3. ↑ HMS Meteor
4. ↑ World Naval Ships Forums
5. ↑ HMS Walney (USCG Sebago)
6. ↑ Allied Warship Commanders
7. ↑ Mysteries of Canada - Victoria Cross Recipients
8. ↑ Find A Grave memorial 7678152, database and images: (accessed 05 December 2018), memorial page for Frederick Thornton “Fritz” Peters (17 Sep 1889–13 Nov 1942), Find A Grave Memorial no. 7678152; Maintained by Find A Grave Body lost at sea.

See also:

• a b "A Hundred Years of the Victoria Cross". The Crowsnest. Vol. 8 no. 9. Ottawa: Queen's Printer. July 1956. pp. 5–7.
• The London Gazette (Supplement). No. 36019 14 May 1943. p. 2215.
• Naval and Military Museum - Frederick Thornton Peters

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