Dean Brelis (April 1, 1924 – November 17, 2006) was a journalist who worked as a foreign correspondent for

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and

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and wrote novels and nonfiction books. He was born Constantinos Christos Brelis in Newport, Rhode Island to Greek immigrant parents. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and was assigned to work in military intelligence for the OSS Detachment 101 under the command of William R. Peers, first as a sergeant and then as a lieutenant, during 1944 and 1945. While stationed in Burma, he received a

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

.Obituary
''Los Angeles Times'' (2006-11-22). Accessed 2012-05-30. Peers, William R. and Dean Brelis. ''

Behind the Burma Road ''Behind the Burma Road'' is a 1963 book by William R. Peers and Dean Brelis that describes the American guerrilla warfare operations, including those of OSS Detachment 101, during the Burma Campaign in the China Burma India Theater during Wor ...

: The Story of America’s Most Successful Guerrilla Force''. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1963, Foreword. After World War II he attended Harvard, earning a bachelor's degree in 1949, and began his journalism career writing for the

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. He worked as a correspondent for Time-Life from 1949 to 1954, then in 1958 published his first novel, "The Mission," which was loosely based on his experiences in Burma. Two more novels followed: "Shalom" (1959) and "My New-Found Land" (1963). Brelis authored another book about his experiences in Burma, this time collaborating with Peers to pen " Behind the Burma Road: The Story of America’s Most Successful Guerrilla Force" (1963). In his last book, "The face of South Vietnam", he collaborated with photographer,

Jill Krementz Jill Krementz (born February 19, 1940) is an American photographer and author. She has published 31 books, mostly of photography and children's books. She was married to Kurt Vonnegut for almost 30 years. Biography Krementz grew up in Morristow ...

. In the early 1960s he joined NBC, filing dispatches from the Middle East, North Africa, Cyprus and Vietnam before anchoring the KNBC-TV Channel 4 nightly news in Los Angeles in 1967. He worked with CBS News, and then in 1974 Brelis returned to Time as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia, retiring in 1988.

Books

*''The Mission.'' Panther, 1959. *''Shalom.'' Atlantic Monthly Press, 1959 *''My New Found Land.'' Hodder & Stoughton, 1963. * Peers, William R. and Dean Brelis. ''

: The Story of America’s Most Successful Guerrilla Force''. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1963. *Brelis, Dean, Photographs by

. ''The face of South Vietnam.'' Houghton Mifflin, 1968.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brelis, Dean 1924 births 2006 deaths Harvard University alumni Military writers People of the Office of Strategic Services United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army officers American writers of Greek descent American expatriates in Myanmar