{{short description|Australian rules footballer}} {{about||the American music composer|Bert Peters (composer)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}} {{Infobox AFL biography | name = Bert Peters | image = Bertpeters.jpg | image_size = 150 | alt = | caption = | fullname = Albert Otto Peters | nickname = Snowy | birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|8|8|df=y}} | birth_place = [[St Arnaud, Victoria]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1944|6|13|1908|8|8|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Bay of Biscay]], off [[German submarine U-270]] | height = 177 cm | weight = 77 kg | position = | statsend = 1931 | years1 = 1920-29, 32-34 | club1 = Wonthaggi | years2 = 1930–1931 | club2 = [[North Melbourne Football Club|North Melbourne]] | games_goals2 = 17 (3) | years3 = 1935 | club3 = Cranbourne | years4 = 1936 | club4 = Hastings | games_goals4 = 8 (unknown) | years5 = 1937 | club5 = Dromana-Rosebud (combine) | years6 = 1938–1940 | club6 = Sorrento | games_goals6 = 46 (unknown) | careerhighlights = *1940 Sorrento B&F *1938-40 Sorrento playing captain-coach }} '''Albert Otto "Snowy" Peters''' (8 August 1908 – 13 June 1944) was an [[Australian rules football]]er who played with [[North Melbourne Football Club|North Melbourne]] in the [[Victorian Football League (1897–1989)|Victorian Football League]] (VFL).<ref>{{cite book|last=Holmesby|first=Russell|last2=Main|first2=Jim|title=The Encyclopedia Of AFL Footballers| publisher=BAS Publishing|year=2007|isbn=9781920910785}}</ref> He was nicknamed "Snow", "Snowie" or "Snowy", for his very thick straight fair hair.
==Family== The son of Carl Erich Theodore Otto Peters (1872–1950),<ref>[https://www.bwm.org.au/soldiers/Erich_Peters.php Private Eric Peters], ''The Australian Boer War Memorial, Anzac Parade Canberra''.</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205371755 Deaths: Peters, ''The Age'', (Thursday, 12 October 1950), p.2.]</ref> and Harriet Cordelia Peters (1874–1970), née Bond, Albert Otto Peters was born at [[St Arnaud, Victoria]] on 8 August 1908.<ref>Nominal Roll.</ref> Eric drove gold mine trains in St. Arnaud before and after serving in the Boer War. When Snowy was young Eric relocated his big family to Wonthaggi some 378 km to drive coal engines. Eric and Harriet are buried in Wonthaggi Cemetery.
Bert married Ruby Anzac Kernot (1916–68) a fisherman's daughter of Tooradin in September 1939. She died in Queensland aged 52.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201307787 Tooradin: Wedding Bells, ''The Dandenong Journal'', (Wednesday, 27 September 1939), p.9.]</ref>
==Football career== Bert was one of seven North Melbourne players to make their league debut in the opening round of the [[1930 VFL season]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/1930/091219300503.html|title=Geelong v North Melbourne - Sat, 3-May-1930|publisher=AFL Tables|accessdate=28 September 2014}}</ref> By the end of the year he had played 12 games and he added another five in the [[1931 VFL season|1931 season]], which would be his last.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/B/Bert_Peters_gm.html|title=Bert Peters – Games Played|publisher=AFL Tables|accessdate=28 September 2014}}</ref> In each of his 17 appearances for North Melbourne, Peters finished on the losing team. This included a 168-point loss to [[Richmond Football Club|Richmond]] at [[Punt Road Oval]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/1931/121419310509.html|title=Richmond v North Melbourne - Sat, 9-May-1931|publisher=AFL Tables|accessdate=28 September 2014}}</ref> The 199 points conceded by North Melbourne in that game remained a league record until 1969.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://afltables.com/afl/teams/allteams/gamer.html#23|title=AFL Tables – Game Records – Progression of Highest Score|publisher=AFL Tables|accessdate=28 September 2014}}</ref>
Bert spent the remainder of his football career on the [[Mornington Peninsula]]. He captain-coached [[Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League|Mornington Peninsula Football League]] club Sorrento from 1938 to 1940 and led them to the finals in each of those years, including the 1940 grand final against victors Somerville-Baxter.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75035607 |title=Football. |newspaper=[[Mornington Standard]] |location=Frankston, Vic. |date=12 April 1940 |accessdate=27 September 2014 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75007940 |title=Sorrento's Great Effort. |newspaper=[[Frankston and Somerville Standard]] |location=Frankston, Vic. |date=6 September 1940 |accessdate=27 September 2014 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Before coming to Sorrento, Peters played for Dromana District in 1937.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75006938 |title=Peninsula Football Progress |newspaper=[[Frankston and Somerville Standard]] |location=Victoria |date=3 June 1938 |accessdate=28 September 2014 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Prior clubs were Wonthaggi up to 1930 then again 1932-34 then Cranbourne (1935) and Hastings (1936).
==Military service== Bert was working as a teacher in [[Red Hill, Victoria|Red Hill South, Victoria]] when he enlisted with the [[Royal Australian Air Force]] in 1941.<ref>Service Record.</ref><ref name=Standard>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75054251 |title=Reported missing, now believed dead|newspaper=[[Mornington Standard]] |location=Frankston, Vic. |date=14 June 1945|page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He came to England in June 1943 for operational training.<ref name=AWM>{{cite web|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P09119.002|title=P09119.002|publisher=[[Australian War Memorial]]|accessdate=27 September 2014}}</ref> His first posting was to the [[No. 455 Squadron RAAF]] and then the [[No. 53 Squadron RAF]], which were based in [[Cornwall]].<ref name=AWM/>
==Death== On 13 June 1944, Peters was a navigator on board the No. 53 Squadron's B-24 Liberator BZ818/C which had been sent to the [[Bay of Biscay]] to perform an anti-submarine patrol.<ref name=AWM/> The plane was shot down by [[German submarine U-270]], with all crew members killed.<ref name=AWM/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1718383/|title=Roll of Honour – Albert Otto Peters|publisher=[[Australian War Memorial]]|accessdate=27 September 2014}}</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214166387 Tooradin Airman Missing, ''The Dandenong Journal'', (Wednesday, 19 July 1944), p.1.]</ref>
Bert's body was never recovered. He is commemorated at the [[Air Forces Memorial|Air Forces Memorial, at Runnymede]],<ref>[https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1804237/peters,-albert-otto/ Flying Officer Albert Otto Peters (408874)], ''Commonwealth War Graves Commission''.</ref> and by a gumtree in Wonthaggi and on a plaque with his wife at All Saints Church Tooradin and another plaque in the Peace Garden at the Red Hill Consoldiation School organised by ex-pupil and later Shire of Flinders President, Keith Holmes.
==See also== *[[List of Victorian Football League players who died on active service]]
==Footnotes== {{reflist|1}}
==References== * [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11352570 R.A.A.F. Casualty List: Overseas: Missing Air Operations, ''The Age'', (Tuesday, 18 July 1944), p.3.] * [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204021709 R.A.A.F. Casualty List: Overseas: Previously Reported Missing, Now Presumed Dead, ''The Age'', (Friday, 19 June 1945), p.5.] * [https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ViewPDF.aspx?B=5246976&D=D World War Two Service Record: Flying Officer Albert Otto Peters (408874)], ''National Archives of Australia''. * [http://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/veteran?id=1060080&c=WW2 World War Two Nominal Roll: Flying Officer Albert Otto Peters (408874)], ''Department of Veteran's Affairs''. * [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224828061 Sportsmen's Honor Roll, ''The Weekly Times'', (Saturday, 19 July 1941), p.40.] * Mickle, D.J., ''Tooradin: a history of a sportsman's paradise and the first 100 years of State School no. 1503, compiled by D.J. Mickle and the Tooradin "Back to" Committee'', D.J Mickle, (Tooradin), 1975
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{AFL Tables|ref=B/Bert_Peters.html}} * {{AustralianFootball|ref=bert%2Bpeters/5170}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Bert}} [[Category:1908 births]] [[Category:1940s missing person cases]] [[Category:1944 deaths]] [[Category:Australian military personnel killed in World War II]] [[Category:Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)]] [[Category:Missing in action of World War II]] [[Category:North Melbourne Football Club players]] [[Category:Royal Australian Air Force officers]] [[Category:Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II]] [[Category:Aviators killed by being shot down]] [[Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen]]