Friday, June 22, 2007

US Army War Graves Registration, Saigon 1946


In August, 1946 the US Army sent the War Graves Registration to Saigon. Lieutenant Irving Wendt and his team were on assignment in SE Asia looking for the bodies and graves of downed pilots and other victims of World War II.

The only military personnel killed in action during this period that I am aware of was Lt. Colonel Peter Dewey of the OSS. Dewey had been in Vietnam only three weeks as part of project Embankment. He was killed at a Vietnamese checkpoint in an unmarked vehicle while waiting for a his delayed flight to Ceylon.

The first cover was sent by Lt. Wendt in Saigon 20 August 1946. The second, a post card, was sent by him from the Netherlands Indies the following February. On the reverse he talks a bit about his work - and suffering a dog bite as an occupational hazard.

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