Slovik.

This is coolbert:

Pvt. Eddie Slovik. The ONLY American soldier during executed in WW2 for desertion.

Said to be the only man executed for desertion since the American Civil War.

Now, some have said that this was an injustice.

Recognizing and understanding that we all are susceptible to cowardice and panic on the battlefield and have the capacity to bolt and run.

So why this one man singled out for execution?

In fact forty soldiers were sentenced to death for desertion during World War Two. But only Slovik was executed.

So why this?

Well, it seems that the forty, to include Slovik, were sentenced to be executed for desertion in the face of the enemy. A lot of soldiers deserted during WW2. But desertion in the face of the enemy is considered to be much more acute of a crime and is punished more harshly. This is why Slovik and the thirty-nine others were sentenced in the manner that they were.

So why was Slovik executed, and the others not?

A good reason.

In all the circumstances of desertion, including that of Slovik's, the condemned deserters were given a chance to redeem themselves. Return to their units and serve honorably in combat and their death sentences would be expunged. A way out was given. This was fair and just. And in thirty-nine of the instances, the condemned did do this, return to their units and face combat. ONLY Slovik refused. So the Army was obliged to execute him, and they did.

HARD to imagine what was going through the mind of Slovik at the time? WHAT did he think? They were going to just let him live when the other condemned returned to their units? Pvt. Slovik had been a small time hood and petty thief prior to being drafted, and this has been mentioned as evidence of a low moral character from the start, but hard to imagine what this man was thinking.

coolbert.