Eddie & Rocky.

This is coolbert:

While looking at the web to find pictures to include in my blog, I come across a variety of web sites devoted to Eddie Slovik.

Eddie Slovik. A soldier who has been the subject of a previous blog entry.

The one and only man executed in World War Two [WW2] for the crime of desertion. [American soldier at any rate].

So I peruse these various sites over out of curiosity and surprisingly find them to have a lot of sympathy for the man.

All the sites DO give statistics that seem to support the argument that a terrible injustice was done to Eddie. Over twenty thousand [20,000] American soldiers DID desert during that war. And a total of forty-nine [I had originally stated that the total was forty-one] were sentenced to death. And yet, again, Eddie was the ONLY man that was executed.

It seems, however, that ALL these web sites, ONLY in an oblique manner, tell the full story of what happened [well, they are sympathetic, aren't they???]. It is true that twenty thousand American troops deserted during WW2. Eddie and those forty-nine others, however, deserted IN THE FACE OF THE ENEMY. A much more serious charge than mere desertion. This is the crime Eddie was faced with. NOT ONCE was this mentioned in the web articles I read. Furthermore, of the forty-nine sentenced to die for desertion EACH AND EVERY ONE WITHOUT EXCEPTION WAS GIVEN A WAY OUT. RETURN TO YOUR UNIT AND FACE COMBAT!! IT WAS A SIMPLE AS THAT!! GO BACK TO YOUR UNIT OR YOU WILL BE EXECUTED. Of the forty nine men, all returned save one, Eddie!!

[In four web sites I looked over about Eddie, NOT ONE mentioned that he was convicted of DESERTION IN THE FACE OF THE ENEMY!! NOT MERELY DESERTION.]

Click here, here, here, and here to see the web sites.

As I have said in my previous blog entry, what was the man thinking??!! Well, it seems that Eddie never did believe the execution would take place. Eddie probably believed he would be locked up for the duration of the war and then be home scot free. It was not to be!!

Reportedly, Eddie, just prior to execution, was to have stated, "Don't worry about me," Slovik replied. "I'm okay. They're not shooting me for deserting the United States Army---thousands of guys have done that. They're shooting me for bread I stole when I was 12 years old." I hope Eddie did not believe that, but I am afraid in his own mind he probably did.

[this comment by Eddie was perhaps prompted by the fact that Eisenhower, when personally reviewing the death sentence conviction prior to execution, DID have access to the pre-war criminal record files of Slovik. Undoubtedly, this influenced the thinking of Ike to go ahead with the execution. An execution that WAS carried out. My opinion.]

And yet once again, there does seem to be a degree of sympathy and support for Eddie, even to this day. I do recall his widow, Antoinette, at one point chained herself in her later years to the White House fence in an effort to receive life insurance death benefits for the death of Eddie [she was not untitled to the normal death benefits a soldier's widow would receive as Eddie's death was considered to be dishonorable].




Another American soldier [??] during WW2 who also deserted the military but to whom life had a much kinder and gentler [??] fate was Rocky Graziano.



[Hey-a Rocky, thumbs up, a real good fight!!!].

Rocky [real name Rocco Barbela] was a neer-do-well as a youth and an ex-convict in the years prior to WW2 [Eddie Slovik was too]. Drafted, Rocky DID NOT FIT IN WELL to military life even in the slightest manner. Finally attacked his commanding officer, punched the man out, and deserted. Was caught and once again sent to prison. In this case, Rocky DID NOT DESERT IN THE FACE OF THE ENEMY. Desertion in the case of Rocky, as serious as it was, was NOT considered to be as egregious a case as was that of Eddie Slovik.

After again serving prison [this time of course for the desertion conviction], Rocky then resumed a boxing career and became World Champion in his weight class. Rocky COULD and WAS willing to fight, but only under his terms. The boxing matches between Rocky Graziano and Tony Zale are to this day considered to be among the most, if not the most brutal exhibitions of pugilism ever!! During the first match against Zale, held in Zale's hometown of Gary, Indiana, Rocky was soundly and roundly booed by the crowd. Probably almost every man in that audience has served in the military during WW2 and were showing their displeasure with Rocky and his dishonorable behavior. And rightly so too. Graziano lived a full and long life after boxing, even having a movie made about him [a sympathetic movie too, called "Someone Up There Likes Me!!" Starring that famous Hollywood liberal, Paul Newman!!].

One can only say with regard to the fates of Eddie Slovik and Rocky Graziano, such is life!!

coolbert.