imported>Electricmaster: /* Biography */

2025-06-05T11:26:39Z

Biography

New page

{{short description|United States Army general}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=William R. Peers
|birth_date= {{birth date|1914|06|14}}
|death_date= {{death date and age|1984|04|06|1914|06|14}}
|image= General William R. Peers (ca. 1967).jpg
|caption=
|nickname=
|birth_place=[[Stuart, Iowa]], U.S.
|death_place=[[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.
|allegiance= [[United States|United States of America]]
|branch=[[United States Army]]
|serviceyears=1938–1973
|rank=[[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lieutenant General]]
|unit=
|commands=[[I Field Force, Vietnam]] [[4th Infantry Division (United States)|4th Infantry Division]] [[OSS Detachment 101]]
|battles=[[World War II]] [[Korean War]] [[Kuomintang Islamic insurgency]] [[Vietnam War]]
|awards=
|relations=Barbara Peers, wife; Rose Mary Peers, wife; Barbara "Penny" Hicks, daughter; Christina Peers Neely, daughter
|laterwork=
}}
'''William Ray Peers''' (June 14, 1914 – April 6, 1984) was a [[United States Army]] [[General officer|general]], who is most notable for presiding over the [[Peers Commission]] investigation into the [[Mỹ Lai massacre]] during the [[Vietnam War]].

==Biography==
Peers, often referred to by his middle name "Ray" by close associates, was born in [[Stuart, Iowa]], in 1914<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/19990427192242/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/myl_bpeers.htm Biography of General William R. Peers]</ref> and raised in [[Covina, California]]. He attended the [[University of California, Los Angeles]], where he was president of the [[Sigma Pi]] fraternity chapter and was a member of the [[UCLA Bruins|Bruins']] football, wrestling, and rugby teams. He was also a member of Blue Key and a captain in the [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps|ROTC]]. He graduated with a degree from the College of Education in 1937.

He received a regular Army commission in 1938 after spending a year in the army at the [[Presidio of San Francisco|Presidio]].<ref name = Emerald>{{cite magazine|last=Edmunds|first=Waldo|date=November 1949|volume=36|number=3|magazine=The Emerald of Sigma Pi|title=Distinguished Army Officer: Colonel William Ray Peers|pages=160–161|url=http://www.enivation.com/SigmaPi/archive/Emerald/1949/SP_EMERALD_VOL_36_NO_3_NOV_1949.pdf|access-date=2016-12-06|archive-date=2021-09-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929092032/http://www.enivation.com/SigmaPi/archive/Emerald/1949/SP_EMERALD_VOL_36_NO_3_NOV_1949.pdf|url-status=usurped}}</ref> After receiving his commission, he was assigned to the [[1st Infantry Regiment (United States)|First Infantry Regiment]] in [[Fort D.A. Russell (Wyoming)|Ft. Warren, Wyoming]]. At the time, the 1st Regiment was a test unit for new equipment, tactics, and organization.<ref name = Emerald/>

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 Burma India Theater of World War II|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 communist Chinese before the armistice.

After World War II, Peers joined the [[Central Intelligence Agency|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 [[United States Army War College|Army War College]], and afterward he 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 (United States)|major general]], he was named the 32nd commanding officer of the [[4th Infantry Division (United States)|4th Infantry Division]] ("''The Ivy Division''"). 14 months later, he was promoted to [[Lieutenant general (United States)|lieutenant general]], and commanded the 50,000 American soldiers of the corps-level [[I Field Force, Vietnam (United States)|I Field Force, Vietnam]].<ref>[http://www.ichiban1.org/html/iffv_6.htm Association of I Field Force, IFFV Commanders]</ref> Based in the Central Highlands, The I Field Force comprised some of the most aggressive American formations in Vietnam, including the [[1st Cavalry Division (United States)|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 but controversially, defeated Viet Cong guerrillas and NVA regulars in the battles of [[Battle of Dak To|Dak To]] in November 1967, and [[Battle of Duc Lap|Duc Lap]] in August 1968. Two hundred and seventy eight American soldiers were killed taking hill 875 that the NVA eventually evacuated (hill 875, Dak To).

In 1969, Peers was ordered by [[William Westmoreland|General Westmoreland]] to investigate the [[Mỹ_Lai_massacre#Reporting,_cover-up_and_investigation|Mỹ Lai Massacre]], being selected because of his reputation for fairness and objectivity.<ref>{{Citation |year = 1992 |title = Four Hours in My Lai, pp 288-289}}</ref> In 1970, Peers issued a report on the incident.<ref>{{cite report |author-last=Peers |author-first=William R. |author-link=William R. Peers |editor-last=Lester |editor-first=Robert E. |publisher=University Publications of America |title=The Peers inquiry of the massacre at My Lai |publication-place=Bethesda, MD |year=1970 |publication-date=1996 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/97042604/ |access-date=March 7, 2022}}</ref> [[Hugh Thompson Jr.|Hugh Thompson]], who, along with his helicopter crew, were the only soldiers who attempted to stop the massacre, said of the Peers report:

{{quote|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. Really the cover-up phase was probably as bad as the massacre itself, because he recommended court-martial for some very high-ranking individuals.<ref>{{cite speech |title=Moral Courage In Combat: The My Lai Story |first=Hugh |last=Thompson |author-link=Hugh Thompson Jr. |event=William C. Stutt Ethics Lecture |location=Annapolis, MD |date=2003 |url=https://www.usna.edu/Ethics/publications/ThompsonPg1-28_Final.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221172507/https://www.usna.edu/Ethics/publications/ThompsonPg1-28_Final.pdf |archive-date=February 21, 2007 |access-date=March 7, 2022}}</ref>}}

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]].<ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00E10F73D5C0C7A8CDDAD0894DC484D81 New York Times obituary]</ref>

==Books published==
*Peers, William R. and [[Dean Brelis]]. ''[[Behind the Burma Road]].'' Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1963.
*Peers, William R., Joseph Goldstein, 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. (1970). Robert E. Lester, ed. ''[https://www.loc.gov/item/97042604/ The Peers inquiry of the massacre at My Lai]''. Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America, 1996. {{ISBN|978-1556556609}}
*Peers, William R. ''My Lai Inquiry.'' W W Norton & Co Inc., 1979. {{ISBN|978-0393011845}}

==In popular culture==
*[[Oliver Stone]]'s film ''[[Pinkville]]'' to feature [[Bruce Willis]] as William Peers. This film project was cancelled.

==See also==

*Peers, William R. Central Intelligence Agency. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080109202940/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol4no3/html/v04i3a11p_0001.htm ''Intelligence Operations of OSS Detachment 101'']. Retrieved 2012-05-28.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peers, William R.}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1984 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Army generals]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of the Korean War]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:People of the Office of Strategic Services]]
[[Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni]]
[[Category:Mỹ Lai massacre]]
[[Category:People from Stuart, Iowa]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Iowa]]
[[Category:Sigma Pi members]]

William R. Peers - Revision history

imported>Electricmaster: /* Biography */