Thanks to his fluency in French and familiarity with France from his time there as a newspaper correspondent in the early days of the war - followed by a short stint as an officer in the Polish Army, Lieutenant Colonel A. Peter Dewey was recruited into the new intelligence and espionage organization the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS. As a member of the OSS he jumped behind enemy lines into occupied France and helped train French resistance fighters.
In the Pacific Theater, other OSS officers trained other guerilla forces to fight against Japanese occupation of their countries. This picture shoes OSS officers with Vietnamese guerillas including Ho Chi Minh (center-right) and his Vo Nguyen Giap (left - wearing tie), considered one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th century.
Following Germany's surrender, Dewey and a small OSS team was sent to Saigon in the southern part of French Indochina which was made up of the three division of Vietnam - Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina - as well as Cambodia and Laos.
After Dewey's accidental killing by a members of the Vietminh's Advanced Guard Youth, his body was initially dumped in a well and later recovered and buried. His exact whereabouts today are unknown. To honor his memory, the Vietminh erected this memorial to Dewey on a street in Saigon renamed in his honor. Not surprisingly, this monument is no longer standing.
In an ironic turn of events, just before his death in late-September through at least December 1945, British authorities waiting for the return of French forces rearmed Japanese POWs and set them to guarding streets, protecting Europeans, and fighting guerilla Vietnamese fighters.
Since his body was never recovered, LTC doesn't have a grave at Arlington, but a cenotaph, a memorial marker. His is collocated on the headstone of his father and mother in Section 3, Grave 4272-A-3-4.
No comments:
Post a Comment