Who was the first US Soldier killed in Vietnam?

Answer 1

AnswerThe first death of an American serviceman in Viet Nam was U.S. Army Lt. Colonel A. Peter Dewey while serving as an OSS (Office of Strategic Services) officer. He was killed 26 September 1945 near Ha Noi, ostensibly in a Viet Minh ambush. Source: Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam (sic) A History.

James B. McGovern Jr. will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery today.

James B. McGovern Jr., was one of the first two Americans killed in the Vietnam conflict. His remains were recovered from an unmarked grave in a remote northern Laos village in 2002 and identified last year by forensic experts at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command's laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

McGovern, known as "Earthquake McGoon ", weighed 260 pounds and was nicknamed after a hulking character in the hillbilly comic strip "Li'l Abner," was killed May 6, 1954, while air-dropping an artillery piece to the trapped French garrison at Dien Bien Phu. His C-119 "Flying Boxcar" cargo plane, crippled by anti-aircraft fire, continued 75 miles into Laos and crashed on a hillside.

The crash also killed his co-pilot, Wallace Buford, and a French flight engineer. Three other French Legionnaires survived the crash and were captured by communist troops, but one died later. The remains of Buford, of Kansas City, Mo., were never found.

McGovern and Buford, both civilians at the time, were the first two Americans killed in fighting in Vietnam, where ensuing warfare would kill nearly 60,000 Americans and more than a million Vietnamese over the next two decades.

Earthquake McGoon was a flamboyant figure who became famous in the early 1950s for his escapades. As a member of an Air Force squadron descended from the famed Flying Tigers, he shot down four Japanese planes and destroyed others on the ground.

His adventures included being captured by communist Chinese troops who freed him because he called them "liars" for not letting him go; winning a clutch of dancing girls in a poker game; and setting free a group of Japanese POWs on a beach rather than follow orders to "dump cargo" after he developed engine trouble.

Source: military.com

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,136797,00.html?ESRC=airforce.nl

Answer 2

Peter Dewey was the first official US solider death in Vietnam. He died in 1945. The Government has difficulty recognizing him because then they would have to admit that they had US soldiers in Vietnam way before the Government told the American people.

http://www.vietnamgear.com/article.aspx?art=34

Answer 3

Go the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall website. There is a section that lists men killed under special categories, times and dates.

Answer 4

the first american killed was dully.