Lexington'96
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Later this month will mark the 70th anniversary of Eddie Slovik, the last American to be executed for desertion on January 31, 1945. In 2005, on the 60th anniversary of his execution, Laurence Vance wrote this:
What did the US military have to gain from his execution?
RIP Eddie Slovik.
One notable example of a man who paid the ultimate price for wanting to change his job, a job that he never asked for in the first place, was Edward Donald "Eddie" Slovik (1920—1945). Slovik was a private in the U.S. Army during World War II. Today, January 31, marks the 60th anniversary of his execution by firing squad for desertion. There were 21,049 soldiers sentenced for desertion during WWII, with 49 of them receiving death sentences. However, only Slovik's death sentence was carried out. He was the first U.S. soldier to be executed for desertion since the Civil War. He was also the last, but that may soon change when Rumsfeld and Company decide to make an example of U.S. soldiers who choose to no longer participate in the war in Iraq...
Slovik faced impending death in The Battle of Hürtgen Forest, where the American army suffered 24,000 casualties during the battle and an additional 9,000 casualties due to fatigue, illness, or friendly fire. After Slovik's request to be reassigned from the front lines to the rear was refused, he deserted, voluntarily surrendered, and wrote that he would run away again if sent into combat. Confined in the division stockade and facing a court-martial, Slovik refused to return to his unit. On November 11 (Armistice Day), 1944, he was tried and pleaded not guilty, but was convicted of desertion. He wrote a letter to General Eisenhower on December 9 pleading for clemency, but on December 23, during the Battle of the Bulge, Eisenhower confirmed the death sentence...
Captain Benedict Kimmelman, a member of the court martial board, wrote in 1987 that "Slovik, guilty as many others were, was made an example, the sole example, it turned out." He considered the execution a "historic injustice." Colonel Guy Williams, another officer on the panel, said that he didn't think "a single member of that court actually believed that Slovik would ever be shot. I know I didn't believe it."
What did the US military have to gain from his execution?
RIP Eddie Slovik.