My understanding is that the Americans only executed Pvt. Eddie Slovik - #OOTF #shorts

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[WorldWarTwo]

This question comes from cementer7665, thank you for the question.

[ryann]

Eisenhower was extremely angry over the unlawful behavior of troops in France and Belgium. And considered it a serious issue. Even citing the 101st as being particularly undisciplined and criminal. R*pe in particular was a very serious problem. As numerous French and Belgian Mayors and local political officials complained to allied authorities of this behavior.

[kemarisite]

Now I am curious about the one execution on Guadalcanal. I presume this was later in the war when that island was in the rear, after the Japanese evacuated in February 1943.

[alanlawson]

The (now closed - but open to visitors) prison near me at Shepton Mallet was the main US Army prison in WW2. 16 Servicemen were hanged and 2 shot there for murder and/or rape. Rape was not, and is not now, a Capital offence in the UK, but they were under US law, so they went to the gallows - in a new execution block built by the US Army. Well worth a visit today (but only as a visitor...)

[gandalfgreyhame]

I was curious about the execution in Guadalcanal - this was of a Robert A. Pearson, hanged for the murder of Frederick D. Johnson, a private in the
368th Infantry. He sometimes gets mistakenly conflated with Robert L. Pearson, who was hanged in the UK with another soldier for the rape of a woman.
Postwar, the bodies of the seven executed personnel in the Pacific-India-Burma-China Theater were reinterred at Schofield Barracks in Oahu.
The bodies of those executed in Europe-North Africa-Mediterranean were re-interred in a tightly sealed off area just outside of the main American Cemetery in France.
The executed soldier in India was Herman Perry, who shot and killed his commanding officer, a Lt. Cady. Perry has his own wikipedia entry because his subsequent escapes into the wilds of Assam at the border with Burma, living with headhunters and having a child with a native woman is quite the adventure tale, later written up in a book by the military policeman who led the massive manhunt that finally recaptured him.
Wikipedia has an article titled "List of people executed by the United States military" which is a good starting point for reading more about this topic.

[MoviesFirearmsandGear]

Slovik didnt think US command would go through with it. He had so many chances for the desertion charge to not go up the chain of command but he kept refusing.

[thomasohanlon]

He was executed for desertion. There were over 20, 000 American soldiers that were tried and sentenced for desertion. Forty-nine were sentenced to death, though forty-eight of these death sentences were subsequently commuted. Only one U.S. soldier, Private Eddie Slovik, was executed for desertion in World War II. But there was something like 96 American Soldiers Sentenced to Death and Executed in Europe and North Africa in World War II for rape or unprovoked murder of civilians and other crimes.

[kanders]

That reminded me, Kurt Vonnegut’s book Slaughterhouse 5 about an internment camp in Dresden in WW2, he listed executions for theft. But that was the Nazi soldiers executing American prisoners who they were using to clean up bombing damage to the town. Some soldier prisoner for instance found something in the rubble, I think it was a tea cup, and tried to pocket it & was discovered & shot. Over a small thing like that with so many people in that war dying in battle. Its been 20 years since I read it. That book is unusual being a mix of fact and fiction written with the fantasy time slip elements included as a way of coping, I think, with events that the author lived through during the war.

[bryonslatten]

Some Italian POW’s were sent to Fort Lawton in Seattle. The restrictions on them were fairly lax and they were able to spend some weekends and evenings out in town. The local men became jealous of the “success” some of these Italians had with the local ladies. There was a brawl and one of the Italians was killed. He’s buried at the Ft Lawton cemetery.

[caelincraig]

My grandfather, Tom Craig, was essentially the ghost author for the book The Execution Of Private Slovik by “William Bradford Huie”.
Some very early editions of the book give some credit to Tom Craig but most have his accreditation removed. When Huie came to Michigan and reached out to friends and family of Eddie Slovik to gather information for the book nobody would talk to him. So instead he reached out to my grandfather to act as some sort of middle man who would conduct interviews with those who knew Eddie Slovik. But since my grandfather was head speech writer at Chrysler and a reporter for the Detroit Free Press, Huie also had him help write the book “a good portion/ most of it actually” as well.

[Skenderbeuismyhero]

As someone who's been targeted by missiles, mortars, and small arms fire and lost friends and seen death I cannot support execution (or even very harsh punishment) for cowardice. Combat and even being within artillery or ballistic missile range is undescribably nerve wracking. I will never judge anyone that reacts badly to it and decides it's not for them. Some people just aren't wired to withstand the pressure and anxiety.

[jacobreisser]

Several American servicemen were executed during the war in Shepton Mallet prison in Somerset in the UK.
The gallows room later became the prison library but the trapdoor and hooks for the noose in the ceiling stayed in place.

[badgermacleod]

There were a number of field executions that were never reported.
Who knows how many field executions took place ?

[zhouwu]

I shudder to think that there were servicemen that other servicemen wouldn't have wanted to be honoured during the veterans day, because their behaviour was a stain on the name of everyone else. And this was just the American side. People might say that all is fair in love and war, but they crossed a line that shouldn't be crossed, even in love and war.

[garypulliam]

Slovack wasn't executed for cowardice. Cowardice was never established. In fact, it wasn't even a charge. He was executed for desertion, and only after he disobeyed orders several times over a long period of time to return to his unit. Soldiers and Marines desert for many reasons, not just cowardice. Some just don't want to kill. Others are homesick or warweary. Slovak, I think, served commendably until he decided killing wasn't his thing. He asked to be reassigned as a cook, where he was working when he was found.

[gibraltersteamboatco]

In the ETO 96 Americans who were dishonorably discharged from the US Army before being executed for crimes of desertion, rape or murder were buried in a hidden section o of Oise-Aisne.

[esomethingoranother]

There were more people who died as conscientious objectors. They're simply not listed in records as "executions, " because they weren't *sentenced* to death. Some men died due to poor treatment/negligence & conditions of the MP's & NCO's of legal platoons, work/labor camps, and other circumstances.
... In WW1 it wasn't uncommon for soldiers refusing to fight (or suffering from shell shock) to be tied to post at high kill rate trench positions so as to be a target for snipers & machine gun nest, this was so that they can attempt to locate the enemy position from their muzzle blast. Of course this was most importantly supposed to be a deterrent for "cowardice" since a stick and dead mans helmet could accomplish the same thing. Records would say they were simply "KIA."

[akshintjoseph]

Could you explore this question: How many Germans (Nazis) managed to flee to Imperial Japan after Germany's surrender, how many were they and what were their contributions to the Japanese war effort and some notable figures?

[tnexus]

Speaking of disciplinary matter, have you ever talked about the battle of Bamber Bridge during WW2? Happended after white US soldiers forced segregation onto some local pubs near me, and they all chose the non white option. Tempers ran hot, and a riot broke out, with some gunfire and I think 1 death.

[SupremelyDelicious]

One of those MPs in the execution image was shooting left handed.