The only American soldier executed for desertion during the Second World War

History · Published 29 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1945, the US Army carried out a rare death sentence. While thousands of servicemen faced desertion charges, only one man, Eddie Slovik, met the firing squad. His case remains a chilling study of military discipline, personal defiance, and the high cost of avoiding the front lines.

Edward Donald Slovik was a Detroit native with a lengthy criminal record, including arrests for theft and drunk driving. Though initially classified as 4-F—unfit for service—he was reclassified to 1-A as the Army's personnel needs grew, leading to his draft in January 1944. By August, he was deployed to France with the 28th Infantry Division.

The path to his execution began when Slovik and a friend became separated from their unit during an artillery attack near Elbeuf. After six weeks with a Canadian unit, Slovik returned to his company on October 8, 1944, and explicitly warned his commander, Captain Ralph Grotte, that he would run away if assigned to a rifle unit. He subsequently deserted on October 9.

Despite multiple opportunities to rejoin his unit or accept a different assignment—offers made by Lieutenant Colonel Ross Henbest and Lieutenant Colonel Henry Sommer—Slovik refused. He believed a prison sentence was a much more tolerable alternative to combat. His court-martial, held in November 1944, resulted in a death sentence that was ultimately confirmed by General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

On January 31, 1945, a 12-man firing squad executed the 24-year-old. Slovik maintained until the end that he was being punished for his past as an ex-convict rather than his desertion. Decades later, through the efforts of Bernard V. Calka, his remains were moved from a mass grave in France to Detroit, where he rests beside his wife.

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