Captain Frederic Thornton Peters

Captain Peters was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1889, but lived in Victoria, BC from age eight. By age fifteen he joined the Royal Navy in January 1905. The Peters family lived in Oak Bay and Esquimalt before they moved to Prince Rupert in 1911. Peters was nicknamed Fritz by his family because he had an obsession with all military related things from his earliest years. In P.E.I. he was focused on a career as a soldier like his grandfather, the Father of Confederation Col. John Hamilton Gray, but in B.C. his interest changed to navy as a result of watching warships of the Royal Navy pass by within sight of his home.
Operation Reservist was an attempt to capture Oran Harbour, Algeria and prevent it from being sabotaged by its French garrison. The two sloops HMS Walney and HMS Hartland were packed with British Commandos, soldiers of the 6th US Armored Infantry Division and a small detachment of US Marines.
Captain Peters was also awarded the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Cross for the same actions. The citation, issued in Allied Force Headquarters General Orders No. 19 November 23, 1942, stated that "Captain Peters distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism against an armed enemy during the attack on that post. He remained on the bridge in command of his ship in spite of the fact that the protective armor thereon had been blown away by enemy shell fire and was thereby exposed personally to the withering cross fire from shore defenses. He accomplished the berthing of his ship,