How many US troops deserted during WW2? - #OOTF #shorts

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[WorldWarTwo]

This question comes from MBCGRS, thanks for the question!

[flyboymb]

In modern times, we were warned that desertion during a time of war could be punishable by death.

In practice, a guy in my class of medic trainees had his girlfriend drive up, and he jumped in, and they drove off.

Ten weeks later, I saw him getting yelled at by the Drill Sergeants. I guess he had a change of heart and came back. They were honestly angry that he did this because now they had to go through all the hassle of a court martial, reduce him in rank, and make him go through the course again rather than just stamp desertion on his file and leave things at that.

[lucindawinn]

My Dad, Lester Lawrence Winn both 101st and 82nd trained with the Band of Brothers. He was designated as HQ because he had been selected to attend to General Maxwell D. Taylor.
I vividly recall the night our family was watching a movie about a young man who was being court-martialed for desertion. Dad was doing something I had never seen him do: he was pressing pants. His expression was more uneasy than I had ever seen before. So I asked. Dad then explained that when he lived with the General one of his responsibilities was to press the General's uniform. Now this was the only way he could deal with reliving what he had experienced.
Dad said that he was assigned to guard
Private Eddie Slovak was for a night while being transferred. Dad described him as frightened young man who mentally did not fully understand what was happening.
Slovak had talked incessantly throughout the night.
Dad, as the Military Police Guard was not allowed to speak to him.
Dad told us that he believed that Slovak's Eastern European name alone had condemned him.
I have always believed that to be true because only Slovak died by firing squad while others with more agregious crimes than desertion received lesser sentences.
(I apologize for this long dissertation. Fifty years have passed since our family watched the movie, and it remains in my memory as though it happened yesterday.)

[kenfrank]

My uncle served in the U.S. Marines during WWII. He did a lot of island fighting. My dad told me that one time while fighting the Japanese, my uncle removed his pack and ran away from the fighting. I don't know how long he was gone but he eventually returned to his unit. My uncle never talked about the war. My parents told me to never ask my uncle about the war because it upset him and made him depressed.

[jonhicks]

To draw that parallel between British & US troops, for perspective, it would be useful to know how many served from each nation and over how long. Approx 6 million British soldiers served from 1914 to 1918. Approx 4.8 million US soldiers served from 1917 to 1918.

[MrMann-gteh]

Murdered* not “executed”

As a vet, it disgusts me that someone would MAKE someone else put their life on the line. That’s a personal choice and there’s no virtue in conscription. I would never want anyone standing by me that didn’t want to be there. Plus it sets a bad precedent… What if they don’t agree with the war? What if the war is unjust?

[RikuSpirit]

No one should ever be forced to fight. Voting should be done so that a nation chooses its path as a collective decision and not a decision made by a bunch of bunker princesses.

[doozledorf]

Now do this for your own country, German....

[badkarma]

My great grandpa deserted from the Army in the Pacific and somehow came back home to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Then, somehow, came back to the Army for the Invasion of Japan(which got canceled bc of the nukes). That was all he had to say about the entirety of the Pacific War.

[ForburyLion]

I had a Great Uncle who was shot in the backside during the D Day landings, he always used to get stick about running the wrong way.
There's a fine line in some cases between deserting and retreating to cover, especially if the order is to advance to your death or worse, an unlawful and immoral order.

[borisread]

Have a relative who deserted the British navy in ww1 but turned up in the Canadian navy later

[jimd]

I remember watching a documentary on cable about how many air crews purposely flew into Switzerland during the war. They were held there for the duration of the war and settled there after the war. They showed grave stones with Anglo names. Was on once and then not shown again

[headshot]

the ONE guy that was killed was super unlucky. they basically had to set an example and he got the short end. its really messed up actually.

[wmorris]

Define desertion. How many ran and were able to recompose themselves and get back into the fight? In band of brothers I think it was F company who broke and one of the officers exclaimed where are they going? Apparently anywhere but there.

[tomtravis]

Read Slaughterhouse Five. Check out the stats. Far from being some great crusade, 62%, almost two thirds of US troops, were draftees. Entire units of these low morale, conscript units were overrun in Vonneguts fictional story based on his own experience as a POW captured at the Battle of the Bulge.

[johnsullivan]

Martin Sheen portrayed Slovik in a movie in the 1970's

[jonr]

What I don't understand is why he bothered giving them a note in person. That's literally the only reason why they caught him.

[TheBushcraftBum]

Not just British but commonwealth as well and we were at war from 1939 unlike 1942 for the US

[stigroadie]

In all fairness the British were in combat for twice as long as the Americans, so the numbers are about even.

[calebamore]

That's way more that I would've guessed