The Naval Academy Class of 1940 [slideshow]

As shocking as the Pearl Harbor attack had been for the Naval Academy Class of 1940, the sudden arrival of peace was nearly as disorienting. Most of the Forties, as they were known, were still only 27 years old, and the great adventure of their lives was now behind them. The war had dominated virtually all of their adult lives, from Hitler’s reoccupation of the Rhineland in 1936 to Japan’s surrender in 1945. For nine years, they had been directed by circumstance, authority, and a shared feeling of responsibility. They had served in different theaters, in different jobs, on different ships—or planes, or battalions. Yet all of them had been forged, tempered, and tested. Every man in the class knew someone who had been killed in the war, and the sacrifice of their classmates was etched into their hearts.

They had learned to live in the moment; now they had to think of the future. For the next two decades and longer, they served in a wide variety of assignments throughout the world. For some of them, there was another war, in Korea. For a few, there was even a third war, in Vietnam. Throughout it all, they stayed in touch with one another, attended class reunions when they could, and caught the occasional Navy football game. Eventually, they retired. Some took up a new profession; several became teachers. But none of them ever forgot their trial by fire in the Second World War, nor did they forget one another. They were always Forties.

Ernest R. “Pete” Peterson

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Ernest R. “Pete” Peterson After the war, Pete Peterson assumed command of the USS Davison (DD-618). He was then tasked with commanding the Gunner’s Mate School in Great Lakes, Illinois. He was sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, which allowed him, his wife Betty, and their children the opportunity to make weekend visits all over Europe. Once back in the States, he had a lengthy tour as a training officer in Norfolk before getting orders to command a destroyer. Before he could assume that post, however, he learned that his wife had been diagnosed with cancer, and asked that his orders be changed so he could be with her. He retired from the Navy in 1958. Obtaining a master’s degree from Fairfield University, he became a math teacher at the Hopkins School in New Haven, the country’s third-oldest private school, retiring from that job in 1982. During his long retirement in Connecticut, Peterson was an avid birder and community volunteer. He attended the funerals of many of his classmates until there were none left to attend. He died on April 14, 2016, at the age of 99, the last of the Forties.

_{Feature image credit: Graduation day at Annapolis, Class of 1940. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, photograph by Harris & Ewing, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USZ62-12345]. Public domain.}