(WSVN) - A World War II veteran took to the sky to honor his years of service and the memory of those he served with.
Joseph Peterburs rode in the P-51 Mustang plane he first piloted more than 80 years ago.
The 101-year-old veteran said flying in formation in the skies over northern California brought back special memories.
“It brings back 80 years of memories, of my memories when I was a young double mint care youth of 19 years old flying this aircraft. It was really a joy,” said Peterburs.
He earned his pilot wings and was commissioner as a second lieutenant in 1944, all before his 20th birthday.
He was assigned to the 55th squadron, 20th fighter group in England — completing 49 combat missions during World War II.
He recently went back to England to take a victory lap.
“I was given a ride in a P-51, and I flew over my old base, did a victory roll because it was actually 80 years to the day that I was shot down and I wasn’t able to come back and do a victory roll, so I did it,” he said.
Peterburs’ military career didn’t end with World War II.
He also flew 76 combat missions during the Korean War and was wounded by shrapnel and bullets.
Then he served as a squadron flight-lead, a group-training officer and was promoted to colonel in 1969 before retiring from the military in 1979.
He said this latest flight, 46 years since he retired, carries special meaning.
“A show of patriotism and democracy and the spirit of flying and, particularly, in memory of all those young men that didn’t make it back,” said Peterburs.
During his flight, he was joined by his granddaughter, who flew alongside him in her own P-51 Mustang.
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