A. Peter Dewey

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A. Peter Dewey
1916 – September 26, 1945

Albert Peter Dewey
Nickname Peter
Place of birth Chicago, Illinois
Place of death Saigon, Vietnam
Allegiance Army of Poland, United States Army
Years of service Army of Poland 1940, U.S. August, 1942 – September 26, 1945
Rank Lt. Colonel
Unit Special Operations Branch
Commands held Polish Military Ambulance Corps
U.S.Air Transport Command, in Africa
U.S.Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
Battles/wars 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

Albert Peter Dewey (1916-September 26, 1945), shot by accident by Viet Minh troops on September 26, 1945, was the first American casualty in Vietnam, during World War II.

Col. Dewey 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)[1] 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. 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. The couple had one child, a daughter Nancy.

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 spoke 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 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

[edit] Awards

His awards are listed as:

Son of Congressman Charles S. Dewey

[edit] External links