Mystery History

Private Eddie Slovik was not a soldier. A small time thief drafted by the USA into world war 2 in 1942, he quickly deserted his unit in France. After officially deserting and filing paperwork with the military police he expected to be given a sentence of 20 years hard labour, which was the normal sentence in desertion trials.

Instead Private Eddie got the shock of his life when General Dwight Eisenhower himself signed an execution order for Eddie, and this happened only two days before Christmas.

He is the first U.S. soldier executed for desertion since the Civil War. The order for execution, signed by Dwight D. Eisenhower, is was never applied to other deserters. It is not known why Private Slovik was singled out.

Eddie suffered a breakdown and assumed because he stole gum and chips when he was a teenager that they labeled him a criminal and decided to punish him for those petty crimes.

Enjoy this clip of Martin Sheen in made for tv movie, The Execution of Private Slovik.

Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Execution_of_Private_Slovik