William B. Petersen served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a Lieutenant Colonel during World War II. A P-38 Lightning pilot, he fought in the North African Theater, where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary achievement. Assigned to Love Field, Texas, as an air inspector, he was killed in a plane crash at Love Field on June 11, 1945. He was also awarded the Air Medal and three Oak Leaf Clusters.
