A. Peter Dewey
Encyclopedia
Albert Peter Dewey shot by accident by Viet Minh
troops on September 26, 1945. Dewey was the first American
fatality in French Indochina, killed in the early aftermath of World War II. (This is often confused with the Vietnam War
).
and his wife Marie Suzette de Marigny Hall Dewey and distant relative of New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Dewey was born in Chicago and educated in Switzerland at Institut Le Rosey
, St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire)
, Yale University
(where he studied French history and was a member of the Berzelius
Secret Society along with friends such as William Warren Scranton, later Governor of Pennsylvania), and the University of Virginia School of Law
.
in its Paris bureau.
Dewey later worked for family friend Nelson Rockefeller
and his Office of Inter-American Affairs, part of the Office of War Information. Rockefeller once sent him to France to meet secretly with General Charles de Gaulle
.
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 interned for a short time.
Dewey's nephew David Dewey Alger, a descendant of Michigan
political scion Russell A. Alger
, was killed in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center
.
(OSS). Operating behind enemy lines for six weeks, he transmitted intelligence reports on German troop movements. For his service, General William "Wild Bill" Donovan personally awarded him the Legion of Merit and the French gave him the Legion of Honor and a second Croix de Guerre.
Dewey arrived on September 4, 1945 in Saigon to head a seven-man OSS team "to represent American interests" and collect intelligence. Working with the Viet Minh
, he arranged the repatriation of 4,549 Allied POWs, including 240 Americans, from two Japanese camps near Saigon, code named Project Embankment. Because the British occupation forces who had arrived to accept the Japanese surrender were short of troops, they armed French POWs on September 22 to protect the city from a potential Viet Minh attack. In taking control of the city, the French soldiers were quick to beat or shoot Vietnamese who resisted the reestablishment of French authority.
Dewey complained about the abuse to the British commander General Douglas Gracey, who took exception to Dewey's objections and declared the American persona non grata. Because the airplane scheduled to fly Dewey out did not arrive on time at Tan Son Nhut International Airport, he returned for lunch at the villa that OSS had requisitioned in Saigon. As he neared the villa, he was shot in the head in an ambush by Viet Minh
troops. Dewey's jeep overturned, and Dewey's subordinate, Captain Herbert Bluechel, escaped without serious injury, pursued by Viet Minh soldiers.
The Viet Minh afterward claimed that their troops mistook him for a Frenchman after he had spoken to them in French. Bluechel later recalled that Dewey had shaken his fist and yelled at three Vietnamese soldiers in French while driving back to headquarters. According to Vietnamese historian Tran Van Giau, Dewey's body was dumped in a nearby river and was never recovered. Reportedly, Ho Chi Minh
sent a letter of condolence about Dewey’s death to President Truman while also ordering a search for the colonel's body.
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
.
Dewey's 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."
Dewey is also commemorated in a side chapel in Bayeux Cathedral.
After his death, Dewey's non-fiction book, As They Were, about life in Paris before the war, was published with the help of his widow Nancy and the Rockefeller family.
Also, 2005's Fatal Crossroads: A Novel of Vietnam 1945 is based on Dewey's time and death in Vietnam and written by journalist and Dewey family friend Seymour Topping
.
Topping dedicated the book to Dewey and his O.S.S. colleagues. He also had returned to visit Vietnam with Dewey's daughter Nancy and her husband.
Viet Minh
Việt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...
troops on September 26, 1945. Dewey was the first American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fatality in French Indochina, killed in the early aftermath of World War II. (This is often confused with the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
).
Early life and education
The younger son of Congressman Charles S. DeweyCharles S. Dewey
Charles Schuveldt Dewey was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.Born in Cadiz, Ohio, Dewey moved in infancy to Chicago, Illinois.He attended public schools and St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire....
and his wife Marie Suzette de Marigny Hall Dewey and distant relative of New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Dewey was born in Chicago and educated in Switzerland at Institut Le Rosey
Institut Le Rosey
Institut Le Rosey, commonly referred to as Le Rosey or simply Rosey, is a school, in Gstaad, Switzerland. It is described as one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the world. The school was founded by Paul-Émile Carnal in 1880 on the site of the 14th-century Château du Rosey near the town...
, St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire)
St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire)
St. Paul's School is a highly selective college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The school is one of only six remaining 100% residential boarding schools in the U.S. The New Hampshire campus currently serves 533 students,...
, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
(where he studied French history and was a member of the Berzelius
Berzelius
Berzelius is a secret society at Yale University named for the Swedish scientist Jöns Jakob Berzelius, considered one of the founding fathers of modern chemistry...
Secret Society along with friends such as William Warren Scranton, later Governor of Pennsylvania), and the University of Virginia School of Law
University of Virginia School of Law
The University of Virginia School of Law was founded in Charlottesville in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as one of the original subjects taught at his "academical village," the University of Virginia. The law school maintains an enrollment of approximately 1,100 students in its initial degree program...
.
Newspaper Work
After his graduation from Yale in 1939, Dewey worked as a journalist for the Chicago Daily NewsChicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
in its Paris bureau.
Dewey later worked for family friend Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
and his Office of Inter-American Affairs, part of the Office of War Information. Rockefeller once sent him to France to meet secretly with General Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
.
Battle of France
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
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
, 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 interned for a short time.
Marriage and Family
On August 1, 1942, Dewey married Nancy Weller. The couple had one child, a daughter, Mrs. Nancy (Charles) Hoppin.Dewey's nephew David Dewey Alger, a descendant of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
political scion Russell A. Alger
Russell A. Alger
Russell Alexander Alger was the 20th Governor and U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan and also U.S. Secretary of War during the Presidential administration of William McKinley...
, was killed in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
.
Office of Strategic Services
On August 10, 1944, Lt. Col. Dewey parachuted into southern France as the leader of a 10-man team from the United States Office of Strategic ServicesOffice of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
(OSS). Operating behind enemy lines for six weeks, he transmitted intelligence reports on German troop movements. For his service, General William "Wild Bill" Donovan personally awarded him the Legion of Merit and the French gave him the Legion of Honor and a second Croix de Guerre.
Dewey arrived on September 4, 1945 in Saigon to head a seven-man OSS team "to represent American interests" and collect intelligence. Working with the Viet Minh
Viet Minh
Việt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...
, he arranged the repatriation of 4,549 Allied POWs, including 240 Americans, from two Japanese camps near Saigon, code named Project Embankment. Because the British occupation forces who had arrived to accept the Japanese surrender were short of troops, they armed French POWs on September 22 to protect the city from a potential Viet Minh attack. In taking control of the city, the French soldiers were quick to beat or shoot Vietnamese who resisted the reestablishment of French authority.
Dewey complained about the abuse to the British commander General Douglas Gracey, who took exception to Dewey's objections and declared the American persona non grata. Because the airplane scheduled to fly Dewey out did not arrive on time at Tan Son Nhut International Airport, he returned for lunch at the villa that OSS had requisitioned in Saigon. As he neared the villa, he was shot in the head in an ambush by Viet Minh
Viet Minh
Việt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...
troops. Dewey's jeep overturned, and Dewey's subordinate, Captain Herbert Bluechel, escaped without serious injury, pursued by Viet Minh soldiers.
The Viet Minh afterward claimed that their troops mistook him for a Frenchman after he had spoken to them in French. Bluechel later recalled that Dewey had shaken his fist and yelled at three Vietnamese soldiers in French while driving back to headquarters. According to Vietnamese historian Tran Van Giau, Dewey's body was dumped in a nearby river and was never recovered. Reportedly, Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...
sent a letter of condolence about Dewey’s death to President Truman while also ordering a search for the colonel's body.
Memorials
Dewey is not listed on the Vietnam Veterans MemorialVietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a national memorial in Washington, D.C. It honors U.S. service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War, service members who died in service in Vietnam/South East Asia, and those service members who were unaccounted for during the War.Its...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
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
Dien Bien Phu
Điện Biên Phủ is a city in northwestern Vietnam. It is the capital of Dien Bien province, and is known for the events there during the First Indochina War, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, during which the region was a breadbasket for the Việt Minh.-Population:...
.
Dewey's name is listed on the American Battle Monuments Commission
American Battle Monuments Commission
The American Battle Monuments Commission is a small independent agency of the United States government. Established by Congress in 1923, it is responsible for:...
's website on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial
Manila American Cemetery and Memorial
The Manila American Cemetery and Memorial is located in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City in Metro Manila, Philippines.The cemetery, or 615,000 square metres in area, is located on a prominent plateau, visible at a distance from the east, south and west. With a total of 17,206 graves, it is the largest...
as "Major Albert P. Dewey."
Dewey is also commemorated in a side chapel in Bayeux Cathedral.
After his death, Dewey's non-fiction book, As They Were, about life in Paris before the war, was published with the help of his widow Nancy and the Rockefeller family.
Also, 2005's Fatal Crossroads: A Novel of Vietnam 1945 is based on Dewey's time and death in Vietnam and written by journalist and Dewey family friend Seymour Topping
Seymour Topping
Seymour Topping is a highly accomplished and experienced journalist, editor, writer, and educator.-Life:Topping was born in New York on December 11, 1921, and was married to photojournalist, documentary filmmaker, and author Audrey Ronning Topping on November 10, 1948...
.
Topping dedicated the book to Dewey and his O.S.S. colleagues. He also had returned to visit Vietnam with Dewey's daughter Nancy and her husband.
External links
- Arlington.net Story
- Yale College photo http://images.library.yale.edu/madid/oneItem.aspx?id=1360661&q=Berzelius%20%20&q1=&q2=&qc1=&qc2=&qf1=&qf2=&qn=&qo=&qm=&qs=&sid=&qx=
- Article about Peter Dewey in the OSS Society Newsletter - Summer 2005 pp. 3–4.
- Bio and links to PDF's of documents surrounding A. Peter Dewey First American MIA in Vietnam (Archived 2009-10-24)
- Herbert Bluechel talking about Peter Dewey and his death. WGBHWGBH-TVWGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
Open Vault.