Veteran's Reflections: 'Serving a Cause Bigger than Myself'
(November 3, 2010) |
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Ambassador John Gunther Dean, a U.S. Army World War II
veteran, provides an interview about his time in service, Sept. 13, 2010. Dean,
a German immigrant, came to the United States in 1938 to avoid persecution by
the Nazis. DoD photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class William Selby |
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2010 – If it weren't for
America, John Gunther Dean very well might not
be alive today.
Born John Gunther Dienstfertig in Breslau,
Germany, in February 1926, Dean had a good life
to look forward to until the Nazi government
started annexing surrounding nations by force --
persecuting, enslaving and murdering Jews along
the way.
“This country was great to me,” he said. “I came
as an immigrant, I was able to go to Harvard, I
was fleeing Nazis. ... I want to help the
country.”
Dean's family was one of the lucky ones; they
escaped to the United States in the winter of
1938-39 and changed their surname. Dean was a
quick study in Kansas City, Mo., where his
family finally settled, and went off to study at
Harvard at the age of 16. In 1944, he became a
U.S. citizen and interrupted his education to
join the Army. |
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“Every human being, regardless of age, has to decide at one
point what they want to do with their life,” Dean said. “I
wanted to serve a cause bigger than myself. Serving the
country was a wonderful way of fulfilling that need.”
He originally was sent to Fort Belvoir, Va., to train as a
combat engineer. But Dean -- a native German speaker who
also is fluent in English, French and Dutch -- was a perfect
fit to work in the Office of Military Intelligence at the
infamous P.O. Box 1142, a facility housing teams that
interviewed prisoners of war and made clandestine attempts
to communicate with Allied prisoners held overseas.
After serving his enlistment, Dean returned to Harvard,
where he finished his undergraduate studies in 1947. He
studied law at the Sorbonne and got a degree in
international relations from Harvard in 1950.
He would end up spending the next 39 years in the U.S.
Foreign Service, eventually serving as the U.S. ambassador
to Cambodia, Denmark, Lebanon, Thailand and India. But his
time working with the military wasn't over. He routinely
worked side by side with top brass. In Vietnam, he oversaw a
large contingent of U.S. diplomats as the war came to an
end.
“I worked a great deal with the military from 1970 to 1972,
in Da Nang, ... I was given the equivalent rank of major
general,” he said. “I had several hundred American advisors
working for me in Vietnam. Unfortunately, 14 of them were
killed.”
His unwavering dedication to telling the absolute truth in
his diplomatic work often was unpopular, he said, but that
didn't keep him from speaking his mind to superior officers,
secretaries of state and U.S. presidents.
“It wasn't always much appreciated,” he said, noting that
his honesty as a diplomat caused quite a few personal
conflicts in addition to accolades.
He said his goal in his diplomatic career, fueled partly by
his own life, has been to promote development around the
world, irrespective of religious influence or culture, so
long as the people represent good values and respect.
“I've tried to be the best possible representative for the
good values the United States stands for, whether it was in
military or civilian life,” he said. “We all come to this
country, whether we're Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus or
Buddhists, we couldn't care less – we care about our
country, and it's a wonderful country.
“I'm here today to help the country with the problems it has
in 2010,” he added. “We're all humans. We all make mistakes,
and so I'm trying to help people learn to do things better.” |
By Ian Graham
Emerging Media, Defense Media Activity
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2010 |
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