William R. Peers

William R. Peers
File:General William R. Peers.jpg
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1938-19??
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands	I Field Force, Vietnam 4th Infantry Division
Battles/wars	World War II Vietnam War

William R. Peers was a United States Army general.

Biography

Peers, often referred to by his middle name "Ray" by close associates, was born in Stuart, Iowa in 1914. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles where he was a member of the Sigma Pi Fraternity. He graduated with a degree from the College of Education in 1937, and received a regular Army commission in 1938.

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 eventually became the unit's commander. 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 Chinese parachute-commando unit into Nanking, securing the former Chinese capital from the Japanese (and Chinese Communists) before the armistice.

File:DK3.jpg

Lieutenant General William R. Peers, commander of the 4th Infantry Division and overall U.S. commander at the Battle of Dak To

After WWII, Peers joined the CIA, establishing that 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.

During the Vietnam War, Peers was named the 32nd commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division, from January 1967 to January 1968. Following this command, he was Commander, I Field Force, Vietnam from March 1968 to March 1969.

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

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 in 1984 of a heart attack at Letterman Army Medical Center at the Presidio of San Francisco.

In popular culture

Oliver Stone's movie Pinkville will star Bruce Willis as William Peers.