First Americans killed in the Vietnam War, July 8, 1959
politico.com
On this day in 1959, Maj. Dale Ruis and Master Sgt. Chester Ovnand became the first Americans killed in the opening stages of the Vietnam ...,
(Don’t worry, just advisors being sent to Vietnam, wherever that is.
Where ever is Ucranus?
My thoughts exactly.
I recall the loss of Lt. Col. A. Peter Dewey, vicinity of Saigon, Vietnam:
https://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/apdewey.htm
September 26, 1945
A. Peter Dewey - Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army
INDO-CHINA REBELS KILL U.S. OFFICER
Slay Lieutenant Colonel A. Peter Dewey From Ambush
British Arrest Commander of Japanese
SAIGON, French Indo China, September 26, 1945 Lieutenant Colonel A. Peter Dewey of Washington, D.C. was killed and Captain Joseph Coolidge of New Hampshire was seriously wounded by Annamese [aka Vietminh] in disorders today.
Other American officers, defending United States headquarters from a siege of three hours, killed at least eight natives.
British, French and Japanese also suffered casualties in a series of incidents. As a result of the continued disorders, Field Marshall Count Juichi Terauchi, the Japanese commander, was placed under house arrest.
Colonel Dewey was the senior American officer for the Office of Strategic Services in Saigon and was returning from a visit to Captain Coolidge in a nearby hospital to his headquarters in a suburban mansion when he was killed.
He was driving a jeep with Major Herbert Bluechel, former movie chain operator of San Francisco and San Anselmo, California. Major Bluechel told of the tragedy:
“We were returning to the O.S.S. hostel when we passed through a partial double roadblock. As we drive through, Annamese in a ditch beside the road opened with a machine gun not ten yards away. The charge caught Peter in the head.”
[The remainder of the story, is at the website mentioned above.]
The above is from a recent article dated April 7, 2023, by Michael Robert Patterson. The story that I read decades ago, was in David Halberstam’s book, *The Best and the Brightest* (1972).