Donald S. Pettit, Jr. of Mountain Top, PA, died on Sunday, March 27, 2011, at St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown, PA, after a more than three month struggle with post-surgical hospitalization complications. He is mourned by his family and many friends around the world and in the local area. His family and close friends were in attendance.
Donald S. Pettit, Jr. or ‘Pete’ , to many of his friends and associates, was born on May 6, 1929 at Nuangola Station in Mountain Top, PA. He was a 1943 graduate of Stivers Grade School, a one-room school house in Rice Township, and a 1947 graduate of Meyers High School in Wilkes-Barre, PA where he is remembered as an athlete, having garnered 3 letters.
Mr. Pettit had a full and varied life that included semi — professional and professional baseball, serving over 26 years in the United States Air Force through 2 wars, followed by several years as a civil servant at the Tobyhanna Army Depot until 1994 and a long-awaited retirement in his boyhood hometown, where he became known as a Master Swimmer at the Wilkes-Barre YMCA. He was a familiar friendly presence to friends and employees at the Hazleton and Laurel Malls and various businesses in the area.
His baseball career included a stint with the American Legion, managed by Mickey Haslin. He signed a contract with the Boston Braves in 1947 and tried out with the Wilkes-Barre Barons in 1948. Pete was on the St. Dominic’s, Parsons, team that won the valley championship in 1948 and tried out for the Philadelphia Phillies with Cy Morgan and Joe Gallagher in the spring of 1949. He played in the Anthracite League, notably with the Conyngham Rubes, winning the championship with them in 1950, batting 406. As catcher and pitcher, he also played minor league ball with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization in the spring of 1950, along with Roy Campanella. (Pete always said the major leagues were over for him as soon as he saw Roy). In the baseball off-season he also worked as a lumberjack, poultry man and farmhand before he joined the U.S. Air Force in 1950.
In 1976, Chief Master Sergeant Pete Pettit retired with an Honorable Discharge from the US Air Force as the most decorated Non-commissioned Officer, with 63 medals and honors. He started as an armorer on B-26 aircraft and was asked to volunteer and became a gunner on the Douglas B-26, in which capacity he served 5 tours in the Korean War, 5th Air Force. Pete served in the Strategic Air Command (SAC) during the Cuban Missile crisis, flew 7 tours on the B-52 through the Vietnam Conflict, participating in ARC Light, both flying and operations, in Operations Linebacker I and II, and overseas service in Korea, Japan, Puerto Rico, Guam and Thailand. He flew on the B-26, the B-29, the RB-29, RB-50 and the B-52.
He received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star Medal, the Air Medal with 1 Silver and 2 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters, an Air Force Commendation Medal, a Presidential Unit Citation Medal with 2 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters, an Air Force Outstanding Unit Citation (V with Silver Oak Leaf Clusters), among many others.
Pete was a member of the Mountain Top Historical Society and the YMCA. He worshipped at St Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, of which he was a member all his life. He enjoyed walking 3 miles a day, typically around his home or in the local Mall, often wearing his Green Bay Packers hat, and was known for swimming a mile a day for years at the Wilkes-Barre YMCA. He also enjoyed dining out and meeting his friends in the area restaurants.
Mr. Pettit was the son of the late Donald S. Sr. and Mary Foley Pettit, and the beloved husband of 49 years to the late Yoshiko Pettit, whom he met and married in Japan. He is survived by his devoted children and their spouses; Linda M. Pettit of Burke, VA , Donald S. Pettit III and Victoria Pettit, of Lansdale, PA, and Robin M. and Linda O. Pettit of Warminster, PA. He is also survived by four loving grandchildren, Ross, Megan, Catherine, and Brandon, and two of his brothers and their wives, Ivan E. and Sylvia Pettit, and Thomas G. and Mary-Jean Pettit. He was recently preceded in death by his brother Edward L. Pettit.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory may be made to the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Memorial Service:
Pete’s ashes will be laid to rest on Saturday, May 14, following a memorial service at 10:00 am at the Memorial Garden at St Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, 3085 Church Road, Mountain Top, PA, at the corner of Church Road and Nuangola Road.