使用者:Robmarotiz/威廉·R·皮爾斯

威廉·R·皮爾斯
William R. Peers
出生(1914-06-14)1914年6月14日
美國愛荷華州斯圖爾特
逝世1984年4月6日(1984歲—04—06)(69歲)
美國加利福尼亞州
效命美國
軍種美軍
服役年份1938年-1973年
軍階中將英語Lieutenant general (United States)
統率越南第一集團軍英語I Field Force, Vietnam
第4步兵師
戰略情報局第101支隊英語OSS Detachment 101
參與戰爭第二次世界大戰
韓戰
西北剿匪
越南戰爭
親屬芭芭拉·皮爾斯(妻子);羅絲·瑪麗·皮爾斯(妻子);芭芭拉·「彭妮」·希克斯(女兒);克里斯蒂娜·皮爾斯·尼利(女兒)

威廉·雷·皮爾斯(英語:William Ray Peers;1914年6月14日-1984年),是一名美國陸軍將領,曾主持皮爾斯委員會調查越南戰爭期間的美萊村屠殺等戰爭罪行。

Biography

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皮爾斯於1914年出生在斯圖爾特,與他關係親密的同僚常常稱呼他的中間名「雷」。[1]他在柯汶纳長大後,就讀於加利福尼亞大學洛杉磯分校,在那裡,他是Sigma Pi英語Sigma Pi兄弟會的主席和加州大學洛杉磯分校棕熊隊足球隊、摔跤隊和橄欖球隊的成員。他還是「Blue Key」的成員和ROTC英語Reserve Officers' Training Corps的一名上尉。1937年,他獲得了教育學院的學位。

He received a regular Army commission in 1938 after spending a year in the army at the Presidio.[2] After receiving his commission, he was assigned to the First Infantry Regiment in Ft. Warren, Wyoming. At the time, the 1st Regiment was a test unit for new equipment, tactics, and organization.[2]

When the United States entered World War II, Peers was recruited into the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). He joined Detachment 101, which carried out guerrilla operations against the Japanese in the China India Burma Theater. At first the unit's operations and training officer, he became the unit's commander when its colonel, Carl F. Eifler, was disabled by injuries in 1943. He held that position until 1945, when he became commander of all OSS operations in China south of the Yangtze River. In this capacity, he led a Nationalist Chinese parachute-commando unit into Nanking, securing the former Chinese capital from the Japanese and communist Chinese before the armistice.

After World War II, Peers joined the CIA, establishing the agency's first training program. During the Korean War, he directed covert operations by Chinese Nationalist troops into the southern part of the People's Republic of China from secret bases in Burma.

Upon his return from China, he attended the prestigious Army War College, and afterward held a series of intelligence and staff positions. With his Asian insurgency warfare expertise, it was inevitable that his career would prosper during the Vietnam War. At its beginning, Peers was the assistant deputy chief of staff for special operations. The next year, he became special assistant for counterinsurgency and special activities for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In January 1967, as a major general, he was named the 32nd commanding officer of the 4th Infantry Division ("The Ivy Division"). 14 months later, he was promoted to lieutenant general, and commanded the 50,000 American soldiers of the corps-level I Field Force, Vietnam.[3] Based in the Central Highlands, The I Field Force comprised some of the most aggressive American formations in Vietnam, including the 1st Cavalry Division, 101st Airborne Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Peers also coordinated the operations of four South Vietnamese and the two elite South Korean divisions sent as that country's contribution. Under his leadership, allied troops decisively defeated Viet Cong guerrillas and NVA regulars in the battles of Dak To in November 1967, and Duc Lap in August 1968.

In 1969, Peers was ordered by General Westmoreland to investigate the My Lai Massacre, being selected because of his reputation for fairness and objectivity.[4] In 1970 Peers issued a very thorough and critical report on the incident called the "Peers Commission."[5] Hugh Thompson who, along with his helicopter crew, were the only soldiers who attempted to stop the massacre, said of the Peers report:[6]

The Army had Lieutenant General William R. Peers conduct the investigation. He conducted a very thorough investigation. Congress did not like his investigation at all, because he pulled no punches, and he recommended court-martial for I think 34 people, not necessarily for the murder but for the cover-up.

Peers died at the age of 69 on 6 April 1984, of a heart attack at Letterman Army Medical Center at the Presidio of San Francisco.[7]

Books published

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  • Peers, William R. and Dean Brelis. Behind the Burma Road. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1963.
  • Goldstein, Joseph, William R. Peers, Burke Marshall, and Jack Schwartz. The My Lai Massacre and Its Cover-Up: Beyond the Reach of Law?: The Peers Commission Report. Free Press, 1976. ISBN 978-0029122303
  • Peers, William R. My Lai Inquiry. W W Norton & Co Inc., 1979. ISBN 978-0393011845
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See also

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參考

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[[Category:1914年出生]] [[Category:1984年逝世]] [[Category:美国陆军将领]] [[Category:美国第二次世界大战军事人物]] [[Category:美國韓戰軍事人物]] [[Category:美国越南战争军事人物]] [[Category:洛杉矶加州大学校友]] [[Category:美莱村屠杀]] [[Category:朝鲜战争人物]] [[Category:越南战争人物]]