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During World War II, more than 21,000
American military personnel were convicted of desertion; 49 were
sentenced to death, but only 24-year-old Private Slovik was
executed.
The only American soldier to be executed
for desertion since the U.S. Civil War, Slovik was born in Hamtramck,
Michigan. Slovik was a petty thief who had spent part of 1942 in a
reform school. A change in his draft classification from 4F to 1A led to
Slovik's draft into the U.S. Army, where he served in Europe as an
infantryman with the 28th Division. Slovik went AWOL twice, being
returned to his unit both times.
Slovik's wife was not told of his death
sentence. Slovik was buried in a secret cemetery with 94 American
soldiers that had been executed for crimes of rape and murder. Thanks to
the efforts of Bernard Calka, a former Macomb County commissioner,
Slovik's remains were returned to the United States and buried next to
those of his wife in 1987. |
