Eddie Slovik

Edward Donald Slovik (February 18, 1920 – January 31, 1945) was an American soldier who was court-martialed and executed for desertion during World War II. He was the only US serviceman to have met such a fate since the American Civil War, though in 1902, during the American-Philippine War, two American soldiers (Edmund DuBose and Lewis Russell) of the 9th Cavalry Regiment were executed for "desertion to the enemy". Although over 21,000 American servicemen were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II, including 49 death sentences, Slovik's death sentence was the only one that was carried out. While a minor, he was a troublemaker and had contact with the police frequently. Slovik was first arrested at age 12 when he and some friends broke into a foundry to steal brass. From 1932 to 1937, he was arrested several times for offenses which included petty theft, breaking and entering, and disturbing the peace. In October 1937, he was sent to prison, but was paroled in September 1938. After stealing and crashing a car with two friends while drunk, he was sent back to prison in January 1939.

Career In April 1942, Slovik was paroled once more. He then obtained a job at Montella Plumbing and Heating in Dearborn, Michigan. While working there, he met the woman who became his wife, Antoinette Wisniewski. She was working as a bookkeeper for Montella Plumbing's owner, James Montella. They married on November 7, 1942, and lived with her parents. Slovik's criminal record classified him as morally unfit for duty in the U.S. military (4-F), but, shortly after the couple's first wedding anniversary, Slovik was reclassified as fit for duty (1-A) and subsequently drafted by the Army on January 3, 1944, from Detroit, Michigan.

Slovik arrived at Camp Wolters, Texas, for basic training on January 24, 1944, and was assigned to Company D of the 59th Infantry Training Battalion on January 31, 1944. On July 11, 1944, he was assigned to Ground Forces Replacement Depot No. 1 at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. In August, he was dispatched to join the fighting in German-occupied France, and was assigned to the 3rd Replacement Depot. On August 24, he was one of 129 replacements assigned to the 28th Infantry Division. He stayed in the division rear area overnight, before being assigned along with fifteen other men to Company G, 109th Infantry Regiment on August 25, 1944.

Desertion While en route to his assigned unit near Elbeuf, France, Slovik and Private John Tankey, a friend he met at Fort Meade, took cover during an artillery attack during the night and became separated from Company G. Company G moved on the next morning, inadvertently leaving Slovik and Tankey behind. Slovik and Tankey found a Canadian military police unit that had occupied the town and remained with it for the next six weeks. Tankey wrote to his and Slovik's regiment to explain their absence before the Canadians made arrangements for them to return to duty with their unit on October 7, 1944.

The following day, October 8, Slovik informed his company commander, Captain Ralph Grotte, that he was "too scared" to serve in a front-line rifle company and asked to be reassigned to a unit in a rear area. He then told Grotte that he would run away if he were assigned to a rifle unit, and asked his captain if that would constitute desertion, resulting in a court-martial. Grotte confirmed that it would, refused Slovik's request for reassignment, and sent him to a rifle platoon.

The next day, October 9, Slovik deserted from his unit. John Tankey caught up with him and attempted to persuade him to stay, but Slovik's only comment was that his "mind was made up". Slovik walked several miles to the rear and approached an enlisted cook at a military government detachment of the 112th Infantry Regiment, presenting him with a note which stated:

The cook took Slovik to a military policeman, then to his company commander, who read the note and urged Slovik to destroy it before he was taken into custody. Slovik refused. He was brought before Lieutenant Colonel Ross Henbest, who again offered him the opportunity to tear up the note, return to his unit, and face no further charges; Slovik again refused. Henbest instructed Slovik to write another note on the back of the first one stating that he fully understood the consequences of deliberately incriminating himself, and that it would be used as evidence against him in a court-martial.

Slovik was taken into custody and confined to the division stockade. The division's judge advocate, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Sommer, offered Slovik a third and final opportunity to rejoin his unit in exchange for the charges against him being dropped. He also offered to transfer Slovik to a different infantry regiment in the division where no one would know of his past and he could start with a "clean slate". Slovik, still convinced that he would face only jail time (which he had already experienced and considered far more tolerable than combat), declined these offers, saying "I've made up my mind. I'll take my court martial."

Court-martial The 28th Infantry Division was scheduled to begin an attack in the Hürtgen Forest. The coming attack was common knowledge in the unit, and casualty rates were expected to be high, as the prolonged combat in the area had been unusually grueling. The Germans were determined to hold the terrain, and weather greatly reduced the usual American advantages in armor and air support. A small minority of soldiers (less than 0.5%) indicated they preferred to be imprisoned rather than remain in combat, and the rates of desertion and other crimes had begun to rise.

Slovik was charged with desertion to avoid hazardous duty and tried by court-martial on November 11, 1944. Slovik had to be tried by a court-martial composed of staff officers from other U.S. Army divisions, because all combat officers from the 28th Infantry Division were fighting on the front lines. However, desertion was becoming a systemic problem in France. A surprise German offensive through the Ardennes began on December 16 with severe US casualties. The Battle of the Bulge would last over a month, straining the morale of the infantry to the greatest extent yet seen during the war.

The case was reviewed by assistant staff judge advocate Maj. Frederick J. Bertolet, who recommended against granting clemency. Bertolet wrote:

Brigadier General E. C. McNeil, the senior Army lawyer in the European Theater, and lawyers on McNeil’s staff, reviewed Slovik’s case. McNeil wrote: This is the first death sentence which has reached me for examination. It is probably the first of the kind in the American army for over eighty years – there were none in WWI. In this case the extreme penalty of death appears warranted. This soldier had performed no front line duty. He did not intend to. He deserted from his group of fifteen when about to join the infantry company to which he had been assigned. His subsequent conduct shows a deliberate plan to secure trial and incarceration in a safe place. The sentence adjudged was more severe than he had anticipated, but the imposition of a less severe sentence would only have accomplished the accused's purpose of securing his incarceration and consequent freedom from the dangers which so many of our armed forces are required to face daily. His unfavorable civilian record indicates that he is not a worthy subject of clemency.

Execution The execution by firing squad was carried out at 10:04 a.m. on January 31, 1945, near the village of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines. The defiant Slovik said to the soldiers whose duty it was to prepare him for the firing squad before they led him to the place of execution:

As required by military custom, Slovik's uniform was stripped of all identifying military insignia, buttons, and any other accoutrements. He was wrapped with a GI blanket over his shoulders to protect him against the cold, and led into the courtyard of a house chosen for the execution because of its high masonry wall, which would deflect errant bullets and discourage the local French civilians from witnessing the proceedings. Soldiers stood him against a post. He was then strapped to the post with web belts, with one wrapped around and under his arms and hung on a spike on the back side of the post to prevent his body from slumping following the volley, and the others securing his waist and knees. Just before a soldier placed a black hood over his head, the attending chaplain, Father Carl Patrick Cummings, said to Slovik, "Eddie, when you get up there, say a little prayer for me." Slovik replied with his last words: "Okay, Father. I'll pray that you don't follow me too soon."

Burial Slovik was buried in Plot E of Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial in Fère-en-Tardenois, alongside 95 American soldiers executed for rape or murder. Their grave markers are hidden from view by shrubbery and bear sequential numbers instead of names, making it impossible to identify them individually without knowing the key. Antoinette Slovik petitioned the Army for her husband's remains and his pension until her death in 1979.

Slovik's case was taken in 1981 by former Macomb County Commissioner Bernard V. Calka, a Polish-American and veteran of World War II, who continued to petition the Army to return Slovik's remains to the United States. In 1987, he persuaded President Ronald Reagan to order their return. In 1987, Calka raised $5,000 to pay for the exhumation of Slovik's remains from Row 3, Grave 65 of Plot E, and their transfer to Detroit's Woodmere Cemetery, where Slovik was reburied next to his wife. and remitted or reduced the sentence in 85 percent of the 27,000 serious cases reviewed. During World War II, in all theaters of the war, the United States military executed 102 of its own soldiers for rape and/or murder of fellow soldiers and civilians, but only Slovik was executed for the military offense of desertion.

Colonel Robert C. Bard of the judge advocate general's office noted that of the 2,864 army personnel tried for desertion for the period January 1942 through June 1948, 49 were convicted and sentenced to death, with 48 of those sentences commuted by higher authority. At least one of the members of the tribunal came to believe that Slovik's execution was an injustice in light of all the circumstances, and was an example of disparate treatment from a flawed process.

Hans Magnus Enzensberger wrote an essay about Slovik and his death, included in the 1964 book Dreamers of the Absolute .

In 1968, psychedelic folk rock group Pearls Before Swine dedicated their second album Balaklava "to Pvt. Edward D. Slovik, U.S. Army, deceased".

In 1974, Huie's book was adapted by Lamont Johnson into a TV movie, also titled The Execution of Private Slovik, which starred Martin Sheen.

The 1963 war film The Victors includes a scene featuring the execution of a deserter that closely resembles Slovik's desertion and execution.

Kurt Vonnegut mentions Slovik's execution in his 1969 novel Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut also wrote a companion (alternate) libretto to Igor Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat (A Soldier's Tale), telling Slovik's story.