Eddie slovik execution photos

Dwight Eisenhower endorses the finding of a court-martial in the case of Eddie Slovik , who was tried for desertion, and authorizes his execution, the first such sentence against a U. Private Eddie Slovik was a draftee. Originally classified 4-F because of a prison record grand theft auto , he was bumped up to a 1-A classification when draft standards were lowered to meet growing personnel needs.

Eddie slovik execution photos: Photographs show Antoinette Slovik,

In January , he was trained to be a rifleman, which was not to his liking, as he hated guns. In August of the same year, Slovik was shipped to France to fight with the 28th Infantry Division, which was fighting its way across northern France towards Germany. Slovik was a replacement, a class of soldier not particular respected by officers. As he and a companion were on the way to the front lines, they became lost in the chaos of battle, only to stumble upon a Canadian unit that took them in.

Slovik stayed on with the Canadians until October 5, when they turned him and his buddy over to the American military police, who reunited them with the 28th Division, now in Elsenborn, Belgium. No charges were brought; replacements getting lost early on in their tours of duty were not unusual. His admission was ignored—and Slovik took off.

One day after that he returned, and Slovik signed a confession of desertion, claiming he would run away again if forced to fight, and submitted it to an officer of the 28th.