Dale Maple

Dale H. Maple (September 10, 1920 – May 28, 2001) was a private in the United States Army in World War II who helped two German prisoners of war (POWs) escape in 1943. The POWs were recaptured, and Maple was court-martialed for aiding the enemy and sentenced to death by hanging. He was the first American soldier ever convicted of a crime equivalent to treason. However, his sentence was first commuted to life imprisonment, then to ten years. Maple was released from prison in October 1950. and won a scholarship to Harvard University. When he told The Crimson student newspaper that "even a bad dictatorship is better than a good democracy", he was also dismissed from the campus Reserve Officers' Training Corps. On December 5, 1943, a detachment of the company was assigned to guard prisoners of war at Camp Hale in Colorado. These units held soldiers suspected of being disloyal to the United States. Maple was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. In 1964, he joined the American National General Agencies as an insurance manager. In 1978, he retired as a vice president of the company.