Rear Admiral WALLIS F. PETERSEN, was granted the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism as Commanding Officer of USS Mustin during an aerial attack on Japanese naval forces in the vicinity of Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October, 1942. Stationed in the Screen protecting one of our aircraft carriers which was being bombed and torpedoed by hostile planes, the then Commander Petersen, by skillful seamanship and courageous disregard for the perilous threat of further attack, brought his ship alongside the disabled, listing carrier, USS Hornet, and aided her in a desperate fight against raging fires. Repeatedly driven off by the fury of subsequent air raids, he persisted in returning to the side of the stricken vessel to assist damage control and evacuate survivors. 337 were saved.

Admiral Petersen joined the Legion of Valor in 1962 and resided in Virginia.