Okla-homey
12/23/2006, 07:50 AM
Dec 23, 1944 : The execution of Eddie Slovik is authorized
62 years ago n this day in 1944, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower endorses the finding of a court-martial in the case of Eddie Slovik, who was tried for desertion, and authorizes his execution, the first such sentence against a U.S. Army soldier since the Civil War, and the only man so punished during World War II.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9912/tttttttttttttttttttttttjl1.gif (http://imageshack.us)
Private Eddie Slovik was a draftee. Originally classified 4-F because of a prison record (grand theft auto), he was bumped up to a 1-A classification when draft standards were lowered to meet growing personnel needs. In January 1944, he was trained to be a rifleman, which was not to his liking, as he hated guns.
In August of the same year, Slovik was shipped to France to fight with the 28th Infantry Division, which had already suffered massive casualties in the fighting there and in Germany.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3848/tttttttttttttttttttttttix1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Slovik was a small-time thief and ex-convict who was originally classified as unfit for military service. But shortly after his first wedding anniversary, in November of 1943, he was drafted anyway.
Slovik was a replacement. As he and a fellow soldier were on the way to the front lines, they became lost in the chaos of battle, only to stumble upon a Canadian unit that took them in.
Slovik stayed on with the Canadians until October 5, when they turned him and his buddy over to the American military police, who reunited them with the 28th Division, now in Elsenborn, Belgium. No charges were brought; replacements getting lost early on in their tours of duty were not unusual.
But exactly one day after Slovik returned to his unit, he claimed he was "too scared and too nervous" to be a rifleman and threatened to run away if forced into combat. His admission was ignored-and Slovik took off.
One day after that he returned, and Slovik signed a confession of desertion, claiming he would run away again if forced to fight, and submitted it to an officer of the 28th. The officer advised Slovik to take the confession back, as the consequences would be serious. Slovik refused, and he was confined to the stockade.
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/4317/tttttttttttttttttttttttef4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Slovik’s life and death were recounted in the 1954 book The Execution of Private Slovik, by William Bradford Huie. The 1974 NBC-TV movie of the same name, staring Martin Sheen, Ned Beatty, and Gary Busey, is available on video.
The 28th Division had seen many cases of soldiers wounding themselves or deserting in the hopes of a prison sentence that would at least protect them from the perils of combat. So a legal officer of the 28th offered Slovik a deal: Dive into combat immediately and avoid the court-martial. Slovik refused. He was tried on November 11 for desertion and was convicted in less than two hours. The nine-officer court-martial panel passed a unanimous sentence: execution-"to be shot to death with musketry."
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/5822/tttttttttttttttttttttttjk4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The 28th Infantry Division is the oldest division in the armed forces of the United States. The Office of the Chief of Military History certified that General Order No. 1, dated March 12, 1879, officially established the Division.
Elements of the Division can trace their histories back to 1747, when Benjamin Franklin organized his battalion of "Associators" in Philadelphia. Other Pennsylvania units of the 28th Infantry Division had their beginnings in the Revolutionary War. Troop A, 1st Squadron, 104th Cavalry, was organized on Nov. 17 ,1774. The unit patch features a Pennsylvania "keystone" a symbol of the state. That insignia in red has been nicknamed "The Bloody Bucket" presumably because it kinda looks like one.
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/711/tttttttttttttttttttttttpr1.gif (http://imageshack.us)
The 28th Infantry Division Association (now a National Guard mechanized infantry unit) sells these unit coins on their website.
Slovik's appeal failed. It was held that he "directly challenged the authority" of the United States and that "future discipline depends upon a resolute reply to this challenge." Slovik was to pay for his recalcitrant attitude-and he was to be made an example. One last appeal was made-to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/7366/tttttttttttttttttttttttno6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
After the execution
The timing was bad for mercy. The Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes forest was resulting in literally thousands of American casualties, not to mention the second largest surrender of an American Army unit during the war. Eisenhower upheld the sentence.
Slovik would be shot to death by a 12-man firing squad in eastern France in January of 1945. None of the rifleman so much as flinched, believing Slovik had gotten what he deserved.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/5540/tttttttttttttttttttslovmd7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
He was originally buried in Europe in a cemetery reserved for disgraced soldiers. Eventually, however, his remains were removed to the USA, where he was buried next to his wife. His poignant epitaph reads, "Honor and Justice Prevailed."
GO TULSA! Beat Utah!
Today on ESPN.
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/2572/tulsa5442uh1.gif (http://imageshack.us)
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2498/insane7zouj9.jpg
62 years ago n this day in 1944, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower endorses the finding of a court-martial in the case of Eddie Slovik, who was tried for desertion, and authorizes his execution, the first such sentence against a U.S. Army soldier since the Civil War, and the only man so punished during World War II.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9912/tttttttttttttttttttttttjl1.gif (http://imageshack.us)
Private Eddie Slovik was a draftee. Originally classified 4-F because of a prison record (grand theft auto), he was bumped up to a 1-A classification when draft standards were lowered to meet growing personnel needs. In January 1944, he was trained to be a rifleman, which was not to his liking, as he hated guns.
In August of the same year, Slovik was shipped to France to fight with the 28th Infantry Division, which had already suffered massive casualties in the fighting there and in Germany.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3848/tttttttttttttttttttttttix1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Slovik was a small-time thief and ex-convict who was originally classified as unfit for military service. But shortly after his first wedding anniversary, in November of 1943, he was drafted anyway.
Slovik was a replacement. As he and a fellow soldier were on the way to the front lines, they became lost in the chaos of battle, only to stumble upon a Canadian unit that took them in.
Slovik stayed on with the Canadians until October 5, when they turned him and his buddy over to the American military police, who reunited them with the 28th Division, now in Elsenborn, Belgium. No charges were brought; replacements getting lost early on in their tours of duty were not unusual.
But exactly one day after Slovik returned to his unit, he claimed he was "too scared and too nervous" to be a rifleman and threatened to run away if forced into combat. His admission was ignored-and Slovik took off.
One day after that he returned, and Slovik signed a confession of desertion, claiming he would run away again if forced to fight, and submitted it to an officer of the 28th. The officer advised Slovik to take the confession back, as the consequences would be serious. Slovik refused, and he was confined to the stockade.
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/4317/tttttttttttttttttttttttef4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Slovik’s life and death were recounted in the 1954 book The Execution of Private Slovik, by William Bradford Huie. The 1974 NBC-TV movie of the same name, staring Martin Sheen, Ned Beatty, and Gary Busey, is available on video.
The 28th Division had seen many cases of soldiers wounding themselves or deserting in the hopes of a prison sentence that would at least protect them from the perils of combat. So a legal officer of the 28th offered Slovik a deal: Dive into combat immediately and avoid the court-martial. Slovik refused. He was tried on November 11 for desertion and was convicted in less than two hours. The nine-officer court-martial panel passed a unanimous sentence: execution-"to be shot to death with musketry."
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/5822/tttttttttttttttttttttttjk4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The 28th Infantry Division is the oldest division in the armed forces of the United States. The Office of the Chief of Military History certified that General Order No. 1, dated March 12, 1879, officially established the Division.
Elements of the Division can trace their histories back to 1747, when Benjamin Franklin organized his battalion of "Associators" in Philadelphia. Other Pennsylvania units of the 28th Infantry Division had their beginnings in the Revolutionary War. Troop A, 1st Squadron, 104th Cavalry, was organized on Nov. 17 ,1774. The unit patch features a Pennsylvania "keystone" a symbol of the state. That insignia in red has been nicknamed "The Bloody Bucket" presumably because it kinda looks like one.
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/711/tttttttttttttttttttttttpr1.gif (http://imageshack.us)
The 28th Infantry Division Association (now a National Guard mechanized infantry unit) sells these unit coins on their website.
Slovik's appeal failed. It was held that he "directly challenged the authority" of the United States and that "future discipline depends upon a resolute reply to this challenge." Slovik was to pay for his recalcitrant attitude-and he was to be made an example. One last appeal was made-to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/7366/tttttttttttttttttttttttno6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
After the execution
The timing was bad for mercy. The Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes forest was resulting in literally thousands of American casualties, not to mention the second largest surrender of an American Army unit during the war. Eisenhower upheld the sentence.
Slovik would be shot to death by a 12-man firing squad in eastern France in January of 1945. None of the rifleman so much as flinched, believing Slovik had gotten what he deserved.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/5540/tttttttttttttttttttslovmd7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
He was originally buried in Europe in a cemetery reserved for disgraced soldiers. Eventually, however, his remains were removed to the USA, where he was buried next to his wife. His poignant epitaph reads, "Honor and Justice Prevailed."
GO TULSA! Beat Utah!
Today on ESPN.
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/2572/tulsa5442uh1.gif (http://imageshack.us)
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2498/insane7zouj9.jpg