William R. Peers

William Ray Peers (born June 14, 1914 in Stuart (Iowa) , † April 6, 1984 in San Francisco ) was an American military and Lieutenant General in the United States Army .

Life

After graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1937, Peers joined the Army in 1938. After the American entry into World War II , he was recruited for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and sent to the China Burma India Theater (CBI) with Detachment 101 to carry out guerrilla actions against the Japanese. Initially an operations officer, he later took command of the unit. In 1945 he became head of all OSS operations in China south of the Yangtze . In this role, he directed the capture of the former capital of Nanjing by Chinese national troops shortly before the armistice . After the war he was accepted into the CIA and at the time of the Korean War led covert operations of national Chinese troops against the People's Republic of China from secret bases in Burma . He later attended Army War College and was subsequently employed in a number of intelligence and staff functions.

At the beginning of the Vietnam War , Peers was Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Specialized Companies, and a year later he became Special Assistant for Counterinsurgency and Specialized Companies with the Joint Chiefs of Staff . In January 1967 he took over command of the 4th US Infantry Division with the rank of Major General . Under his leadership, the Americans and allied South Vietnamese fought, among other things, the battle of Dak To at the end of 1967. In March 1968 he was promoted to Lieutenant General in command of the I Field Force, Vietnam , an association at corps level operating in the central highlands was stationed.

In 1969, Peers was appointed head of the commission set up by General Creighton W. Abrams to investigate the My Lai massacre and published a comprehensive report in 1970.

He died of a heart attack in an army hospital at the age of 69.

He received the Army Distinguished Service Medal, among other awards .

literature

William R. Peers and Dean Brelis: Behind the Burma Road. (1963)
Joseph Goldstein, William R. Peers, Burke Marshall and Jack Schwartz: The My Lai Massacre and Its Cover-Up: Beyond the Reach of Law (1976)
William R. Peers: My Lai Inquiry. (1979)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Peers, William R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Peers, William Ray (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American military, Lt. General in the United States Army
DATE OF BIRTH	June 14, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH	Stuart (Iowa)
DATE OF DEATH	April 6, 1984
Place of death	San Francisco