A. Peter Dewey

Infobox Military Person
born= 1916
died= September 26, death year and age|1945|1916
placeofbirth= Chicago, Illinois
placeofdeath= Saigon, Vietnam
placeofburial= Arlington National Cemetery


caption = Albert Peter Dewey
nickname= Peter
allegiance= Army of Poland, United States Army
serviceyears= Army of Poland 1940, U.S. August, 1942 – September 26, 1945
rank= Lt. Colonel
commands=Polish Military Ambulance Corps U.S.Air Transport Command, in Africa U.S.Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
unit= Special Operations Branch
battles= World War II Battle of France (with the Polish Army) Operation Dragoon
awards= Silver Star Legion of Merit Croix de Guerre Avec Palmes Chevalier De La Légion d'honneur Tunisian Order of Nicham-el-Oftikhar
laterwork=

Albert Peter Dewey (1916-September 26, 1945), shot by accident. [Citation | year = 1945 | title = Fever in Saigon | publisher = Time Magazine | location = New York, N.Y. | date = (08 October 1945)] by Viet Minh troops on September 26, 1945. [Citation | year = 1945 | title = INDO-CHINA REBELS KILL U.S. OFFICER; Slay Lieut. Col. A. Peter Dewey From Ambush--British Arrest Commander of Japanese Indo-China Rebels Kill U S. Officer From Ambush Near Headquarters Dewey's Companion Escapes Saigon Without Power Served With Polish Army French Protest on Chinese | page = 1. | publisher = The New York Times | location = New York, N.Y. | date = (28 September 1945)] Dewey was the first American casualty in Vietnam, killed in the early aftermath of World War II.

Col. Dewey the younger son of Congressman Charles S. Dewey and his [Citation | first = Judith | last = Cass | year = 1942 | title = A. Peter Dewey Takes Bride in Capital Today | page = 13. | publisher = Chicago Daily Tribune | location = Chicago, Il. | date = 1 August 1942] wife Marie Suzette de Marigny Hall Dewey [Citation | year = 1957 | title = MRS. C.S. Dewey, Red Cross Leader; Former Director in Chicago and Washington Dies-- Wife of Ex-Legislator| page = 21. | publisher = The New York Times | location = New York, NY | date = (14 December 1957)] was born in Chicago and educated in Switzerland, St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire), Yale University (where he studied French history and was a member of the Berzelius Secret Society) [ [http://mssa.library.yale.edu/madid/showzoom.php?imgNum=5565 The Manuscripts and Archives Digital Images Database (MADID) ] at mssa.library.yale.edu] and at the Law School of the University of Virginia. Dewey worked as a journalist for the "Chicago Daily News" in its Paris bureau. While reporting on the German invasion of France for the "Daily News", Dewey became more directly involved in the war.

In May 1940, during the Battle of France, Dewey enlisted as a lieutenant in the Polish Military Ambulance Corps with the Polish army fighting in France. [Citation | year = 1941 | title = Polish Embassy Party Honors Peter Dewey | page = 14 | publisher = The Washington Post | location = Washington, D.C. | date = (25 March 1941)] [Citation | year = 1945 | title = INDO-CHINA REBELS KILL U.S. OFFICER; Slay Lieut. Col. A. Peter Dewey From Ambush--British Arrest Commander of Japanese Indo-China Rebels Kill U S. Officer From Ambush Near Headquarters Dewey's Companion Escapes Saigon Without Power Served With Polish Army French Protest on Chinese | page = 1. | publisher = The New York Times | location = New York, N.Y. | date = (28 September 1945)] Following the defeat of the French army, Dewey escaped through Spain to Portugal, where he was, for a while, placed in an internment camp.

On August 1, 1942, while still a Second Lieut., he married Nancy Weller. [Citation | year = 1942 | title = Miss Nancy Weller Engaged to be Wed; Madeira School Alumna Will Be Bride of A. Peter Dewey | page = 11. | publisher = The New York Times | location = New York, N.Y. | date = (18 May 1942)] [Citation | year = 1942 | title = Miss Nancy Weller Is Wed To Lieut. A. Peter Dewey | page = S2. | publisher = The Washington Post | location = Washington, D.C. | date = (2 August 1942)] [Citation | first = Judith | last = Cass | year = 1942 | title = A. Peter Dewey Takes Bride in Capital Today | page = 13. | publisher = Chicago Daily Tribune | location = Chicago, Il. | date = 1 August 1942] The couple had one child, a daughter Nancy. [Citation | year = 1967 | title = Miss Dewey Wed to Robert Harrison; 1962 Debutante and Harvard Graduate Marry in Jersey | page = 92. | publisher = The New York Times | location = New York, N.Y. | date = (22 October 1967)]

Col. Dewey was a member of the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS), an adviser to the Viet Minh forces in the war against Japan, and head of the local OSS Special Operations Branch (SO).

Dewey had been working with the Viet Minh for the repatriation of 214 Americans at two Japanese camps in Saigon captured by the Japanese and held in Vietnam during the last days of World War II, code named Project EMBANKMENT. His mission was accomplished but the plane taking him out did not arrive as planned at Tan Son Nhat International Airport. He was shot returning from the airport by Viet Minh. The Viet Minh afterward claimed that their troops mistook him for a Frenchman after he had spoken to them in French.

Dewey is not listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. because the Defense Department has ruled that the war officially started, from a U.S. perspective, on November 1, 1955, after the U.S. took over following the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu.

His name is listed on the American Battle Monuments Commission's [http://www.abmc.gov/ website] on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial as "Major Albert P. Dewey".

He is also commemorated in a side chapel in Bayeux Cathedral

Awards

His awards are listed as:
*Silver Star
*Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster
*French Croix de Guerre
*French Legion of Honor Chevalier
*Tunsian Order of Nicham-el-Oftikhar

Triva

Son of Congressman Charles S. Dewey

Books

*"As they were", The story of France in 1939-40., The Beechhurst press, New York (1946).

ee also

References

External links

* [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/apdewey.htm Arlington.net Story]
*Yale college class photo [http://mssa.library.yale.edu/madid/showzoom.php?imgNum=5565]
*Bio and links to PDF's of documents surrounding A. Peter Dewey [http://www.geocities.com/mithlean/VietMIA1.htm]