Eddie Slovik
United States Army soldier (1920-1945) executed for desertion during WW2
Edward Donald Slovik (February 18, 1920 – January 31, 1945) was an American soldier who was court-martialed and executed for desertion during World War II. He was the only US serviceman to have met such a fate since the American Civil War, though in 1902, during the American-Philippine War, two American soldiers (Edmund DuBose and Lewis Russell) of the 9th Cavalry Regiment were executed for "desertion to the enemy". Although over 21,000 American servicemen were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II, including 49 death sentences, Slovik's death sentence was the only one that was carried out. The case was brought to public attention by the 1954 book The Execution of Private Slovik by William Bradford Huie, later made into an NBC 1974 television movie.
Early life and education
Slovik was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1920 to a Catholic, Polish-American family, the son of Anna Lutsky and Josef Slowikowski. While a minor, he was a troublemaker and had contact with the police frequently. Slovik was first arrested at age 12 when he and some friends broke into a foundry to steal brass. From 1932 to 1937, he was arrested several times for offenses which included petty theft, breaking and entering, and disturbing the peace. In October 1937, he was sent to prison, but was paroled in September 1938. After stealing and crashing a car with two friends while drunk, he was sent back to prison in January 1939.
Career
In April 1942, Slovik was paroled once more.
The public source identifies “Eddie Slovik” as united States Army soldier (1920-1945) executed for desertion during WW2. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Eddie, Slovik and United.
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This entry incorporates text from “Eddie Slovik” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.