By Carly Campbell
On Dec. 6, 1941, Glen J. Peterson was getting ready for Christmas. He was writing greeting cards to his mother and father that he planned to send on Monday. But they wouldn''t arrive until one month after Christmas.
The next morning at 7:55, Pearl Harbor was viciously attacked, delaying his trip to the post office. And until his parents received those Christmas cards, which were postmarked after Dec. 7, they thought he was dead.
'There was another Glen Peterson aboard the Rigel that died that day,' Peterson said. 'They sent my parents the telegram.'
Peterson, 81, doesn''t like to talk about that day. He still has nightmares. His wife Beverlee said people are always curious to hear his story.
'He sure has had a hard time,' she said. 'But he did what he had to do and our country has been good to him in return.'
In late Sept. 1941, Peterson was assigned to Pearl Harbor on the battleship Maryland as a second-class sailor, which was an ideal assignment for him.
'I was as happy as a clam on that ship,' Peterson said. 'I''ve wanted to be a sailor on a battleship since I was little.'
He grew up in Lehi and was the 18th child of the 19 Peterson children.
'My poor little mother,' Peterson said. 'She tried everything to keep me from going into the navy.'
He remembers his mother pointing out to the doctors how little Peterson was, a mere 110 pounds.
'When that didn''t work, she pointed out I had flat feet,' he said. 'She already had four sons in the navy. She didn''t want to make it five.'
Despite his mother''s efforts, Peterson entered the Navy the day after he graduated from Lehi High School in May of 1941.
Peterson grew up during the depression when jobs were scarce, but said joining the Navy gave him a sense of security.
'When I was a little boy, every time we went out, my mother would dress me in a sailor suit,' Peterson said. 'I always knew I wanted to be a sailor.'
He remained on the Maryland until Nov. 1941 when he was re-assigned to a naval repair ship, the USS Rigel, as a welder.
'You''d never seen such a broken hearted boy as I was leaving the Maryland,' Peterson said. 'But this assignment saved my life.'
The morning of Dec. 7, the 17-year-old Peterson was sleeping aboard the USS Rigel, stationed at Pearl Harbor. He awoke to someone screaming for everyone to get out of bed.
'I was about to yell at him to go to bed, when the ''all stations'' alarm went off,' Peterson said.
The rest of the country was told of the attack on that Sunday, hours after it happened. One of Peterson''s friends, Garth Read, also a World War II veteran, heard the news as he left church.
'They said Pearl Harbor has been attacked,' Read said. 'And I thought, where is Pearl Harbor?'
In the midst of the attack, Peterson spent the next hour in the harbor trying to get sailors out of the water.
There was one sailor, who was swimming through burning oil trying to get to Peterson''s rescue boat. Peterson tried to rescue him by pulling him out of the water by his arm.
'He had been burned so badly his skin peeled off just like a ripe banana,' Peterson said. 'I had to pull him in by his hair.'
Some of the Japanese planes were coming so close to Peterson''s boat, he could see the pilot''s facial expressions and certain crude gestures he said he would always remember.
After the attack was over, Peterson spent days taxiing survivors to shore. He had to report the bodies found in the water everyday, something that Peterson still has a hard time with.
More than 2,400 people died as a result of the attack. Most of the casualties were men that drowned inside of the boats. It was a large success for the Japanese, and a huge blow to America.
Until Peterson''s parents received the belated Christmas cards, they believed he was dead.
'I had a friend from American Fork, who was at Pearl Harbor,' Peterson said. 'He went over to my mother and said he saw me get killed even though he was in the hospital recovering from surgery. I''m still mad at him.'
However, Peterson''s life was spared because he was transferred to the Rigel. A bomb struck his old living quarters on the Maryland killing four of his old mates.
Peterson spent the next 38 months overseas and participated in every major conflict of the Pacific Campaign. He remained relatively unharmed, until he was performing an underwater repair of a ship. Enemies hit the ship and a piece of metal fell that nearly severed his arm.
'I told the doctor to do anything, but don''t take off my arm,' he recalls. Peterson was adamant, so the doctor did an experimental procedure and made him a new shoulder socket out of piano wire that remains in his shoulder to this day.
Peterson received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his work and service at Pearl Harbor and was awarded six separate Battle Stars for valor in subsequent battles throughout the rest of World War II.
'Our family was fortunate enough to have all five boys come home alive,' Peterson said. 'I''m convinced it was because of the prayers of my parents that we all made it home.'
Peterson doesn''t like to talk about Pearl Harbor because of the nightmares, but he does appreciate that people want to hear his story. He wants people to remember and to appreciate the sacrifice of the men who fell that day.
'As long as Americans have it in their heads that we are free and nobody''s got it like we''ve got it,' Peterson said. 'We have it so good here in this country it hurts my feelings when people complain about it. I taught my family patriotism and to be grateful for this country.'