Private Eddie Slovik: the Unluckiest U.S. Soldier of WW2

[@glennchartrand5411]

He was trying to game the system, and was very open about it. He knew that America wasn't executing deserters He knew that once the war was over America usually released deserters. So he did the math , and realized that the war would be over within 2 years. So it was 2 years of combat or two years of jail. He decided that he'd rather take two safe years in jail than 2 years in combat. What got him executed was he told people about it, and the Army couldn't risk other people copying him. So they shot him, to keep other people from copying him. He wasn't unlucky....he was stupid.

[@wilsonblauheuer6544]

The system wasn't having it. It was when America still knew how to compete

[@toast2610]

Actually the complete opposite. Cowards who cheat the system got away with it, and are today getting away with it. They sign up, take the money and desert when the time comes. Those who did not sign up, but took a stand on principle and are willing to die for that principle, gets executed. Dishonesty gets rewarded and honesty gets punished.. because the dishonest hate and gang up on the honest.. and they control the system.

[@Chriscovelli1]

They say bravery and stupidity aren't to far apart from each other. I won't say this man was a coward. Why? Cuz until YOUR forced to fight for the lives of others, YOU have no clue what it's like. And if he was brave enough to write a letter, then he was trying to publicize the event. After all, a real coward would have just disappeared, right?

[@Chriscovelli1]

@Individual I agree. My dad always told me to join the army and leave women alone. I did the opposite. Now I pay child support and live humbly. It's in men's nature to serve. To fight. To protect our homes. A man that doesn't desire this may be selfish, but who am I to say 🤔

[@jacobchevalier1909]

Filthy coward.

[@bobbov8277]

After seeing this video, Monday wasn't such a bad day after all.

[@mr_at0mic850]

For you Monday isssss so boring

[@thatguynexus5935]

Same

[@jcs6206]

Your Monday (and every other day and event in your life) was EXACTLY as bad (or good) as it was, regardless of how someone else's Monday (or event) was or wasn't... unless you're comparing your life to a complete strangers (which is stupid at best).

[@jonrooney3310]

Yea next time i think about calling in sick on a monday, ill just go lmao

[@nocturnalrecluse1216]

Uh oh, sounds like somebody's got a case of the MUNDAYS!

[@radu-danielstoica6310]

USA executes one deserter - "The unluckiest GI in WW2" Stalin be like: One step backwards means desertion

[@ey7290]

"If you look backwards we shoot you"

[@joemamaobama6863]

you do know tzat most soviet deserters were sent to tze frontlines again right?

[@ey7290]

@@joemamaobama6863 Penal battalions, death by German enemies, or death by soviet "allies"

[@joemamaobama6863]

@@ey7290 yes kzbin.info/www/bejne/gICucnx6pbSMbpI

[@ey7290]

@@joemamaobama6863 I was not referring to 227 at all. Penal battalions existed as long as there were prisoners serving death penalties, they would be sent to the front, if they did something heroic or received a "million dollar wound" their sentence would be up and they would be free men, (Well about as free as anyone was under the worst lunatic the world has every seen), if you weren't a hero or wounded you would remain at the front until either you do qualify for early release or you become another statistic.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

"Five children in the next couple of years." Gives a clue to his main form of recreation while in hiding.

[@johngurlides9157]

How do you do that? Triplets?

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@johngurlides9157 I am sure there was at least one set of twins. Unless there was more than one woman...

[@toast2610]

which of course is more honorable to the powers that be than say.. standing on principle

[@tannhauser7584]

I think the problem here is a narrator who uses the word "couple" as a synonym for "few". It isn't.

[@fdhicks69]

He was an unrepentant sociopath and got what he deserved.

[@matthings4133]

My grandfather who is born in 1920, died a week ago. He was an italian soldier who was inprisoned in his first battle in libya by the british. For the rest of the war (6 years), he lived in POW workcamp (first in india, then in australia). Crazy how people born in the same year have such different lives

[@matthings4133]

Upon seeing the rest of the video i realised that my grandfather was born on the 17th of februari, while slovic on the 18th.

[@johnclifford1537]

Matthings I am in Australia and on a driving trip of New South Wales recently I was surprised that there are a number of POW camps still dotted around country towns. Not active of course but you can still see the buildings, fence lines, latrines etc and most have markers or detailed signs. If you ever come over you would be easily able to trace his journey. BTW my FIL was born in 1919 in Italy and spent 3 years in an Albanian POW camp. He died 20 years ago and never liked to talk about it much.

[@matthings4133]

@@johnclifford1537 I will definitly keep that in mind if i ever visit australia! Thank you

[@johnclifford1537]

@@matthings4133 Did your GF ever mention where he was detained ? Do the names Bonegilla or Tatura ring a bell ? They were the two biggest.

[@matthings4133]

@@johnclifford1537 i don't have a GF he is my actual granddad :-). for the exact locations i will have to ask my aunt.

[@hkhjg1734]

probably getting tortured in a pacific cave is unluckier.

[@toast2610]

or born in Hiroshima

[@EneTheGene]

@@toast2610 I doubt many US soldiers were born in Hiroshima

[@patrickmulroney9452]

@@EneTheGene 8 american soldiers were killed in hiroshima!

[@Houndini]

I worked with guy. All I was told me he had very tough time in Pacific in WW2. I know better ask him any questions Why? Always keep him in American equipment. Or he go home for the day. I did. He worked each & everyday. He would not touch nothing from Japan not 1 finger. Worked with many Vietnam vets too. Lot turn out be great friends of mine. He like me pretty good but very quiet unless talking about fishing.

[@bobcaygeon975]

Ralph Anthony "Iggy" Ignatowski, United States Marine Corps, KIA (April 8, 1926 - March 4-7, 1945)

[@mikavirtanen7029]

I'm Finnish and we had 63 reported cases of executed deserters during the war. It was kind of a surprise when i learned that Slovik was the only American executed for desertion during WW2, even when there were thousands of cases. Of course the circumstances were different, because we were pretty much end of our rope and facing Soviet occupation in 1944 when most of these happened, while US was winning. Anyway, i would say that US Army was more than lenient compared to most of the other armies during that time when it came to desertion.

[@gustaviansyndrome2583]

@Usecriticalthinking or the soviets would send them to the 8th. Army, penal battalion

[@nobackhands]

In WWII, soldiers took care of the problem. In Vietnam, bad officers were "fragged"

[@gustaviansyndrome2583]

@@nobackhands Jawohl

[@zsoltpapp3363]

Murica had limitless reinforcements of conscripts, so they didnt have to be that strict with their punishments. In many European armys there was a shortage of men especially before the end of the war.

[@kalumbailey5103]

@@nobackhands thats because the 'army' sent in to vietnam was less trained, less motivated and less profesional, a 'bad' officer to a US conscript in vietnam was probably an officer that tried to make them act and perform like a military unit, if the UK had of joined in to help the Aussies you would of won, hell if you let the aussies or south koreans take charge through virtue of actually having a personal stake in the war(it was local to them) then you would have won

[@smolkafilip]

The reason he was executed wasn't to make an example out of him by killing him, it was to avoid making an example out of him by not killing him. Unlike other deserters, Slovik was completely open about the fact that he deserted so that he could go to prison instead of fighting. If he got a prison sentence, the command feared that it would provide a precedent to follow for all who would prefer the relative safety of prison to potentially dying in combat. It was the fact that he was clearly trying to get a prison sentence and that he deliberately got himself arrested and that he confessed in order to get sentenced as fast as possible refusing all kinds of deals to be instead sent back to a different unit that got him executed. Other deserters ran and hid and they tried to evade capture. They had to be dragged in by MPs. They made up excuses that they were lost and weren't actually deserters. They came of as lazy or undisciplined soldiers who eloped to bang some french girls and get drunk. In that context a prison term looks like something they don't want therefore an effective form of punishment. In Slovik's case he made it clear that going to prison was what he wanted and thus to give him anything less than a death sentence would mean letting him win.

[@nomadjensen8276]

Ita kinds of sad really. That a Govt thinks enough of it self to kill a man who will say "no" to them.

[@someperson8151]

The whole incident was supposedly kept quiet, so why make an example of a man when it's kept in the dark? Killed a man for nothing. Some people can't stomach war, or killing people, or getting killed. Is that wrong? Yes. Some people think it's wrong. The cowardly officers and politicians who orders young men to fight who are too coward to do it themselves.

[@smolkafilip]

@@someperson8151 Oh I'm absolutely against conscription and I absolutely do believe that Slovik's execution was state sanctioned murder. I'm just explaining what I think was the point of view of the army officials who were involved. Funny enough, the fact that he was tried by a court martial staffed entirely by non-combat officers was actually considered an advantage for him. The perception was that non-combat officers are more lenient.

[@loke5713]

@@someperson8151 I think it was meant to be a secret from the American public. I'm sure the news spread through lower ranks pretty quickly.

[@smolkafilip]

@John Doe Every murder that is (that is commited by a sane person) has a motive that at least internally makes sense to that person. Explaining what it was does not equal justifying it.

[@mike89128]

When US soldiers were dying by the thousands during the Battle of the Bulge, squads holding off platoons, platoons holding off companies and dying doing it, Slovik refused to fight. Eisenhower after seeing the casualty lists was not in the mood to be merciful.

[@Holuunderbeere]

Brah he even handed them a Note...he didn't rum away or hide...

[@drekovskio]

Has your tough Eisenhouwer ever undertaken a dangerous mission, has he himself ever experienced the fear of combat? no he got medals for what the soldiers did and died. ist Eisenhouwer who had to stand on that pole.

[@monitor1862]

@@drekovskio but Eisenhower never ran away. And Slovik never actually saw combat.

[@theophrastusbombastus8019]

@@monitor1862 Difference is Eisenhower choose his career, Slovik was drafted. I'm not saying in those times his execution was just or unjust, only that one of the tragedies of war is losing the freedom to be a coward.

[@oscarrlee18]

@@theophrastusbombastus8019 or freedom to be a violent criminal. Look life is about choices as you know. He chose badly

[@chardtomp]

He was the only one that was shot because he was the only one that wrote out a declaration saying that not only did he desert under fire the first time but he was going to do it again and again and signed his name to it! Even then he was given multiple chances to walk away from it if he just went back to his unit an behaved but he kept pressing it instead. In short he gambled that the army was bluffing but they weren't.

[@toast2610]

They set the stage for post WWII order.. punish honesty and reward dishonesty.. do what we tell you don't think for yourself

[@chardtomp]

@Somarik Green Whatever the circumstances once he wrote his declaration he made it clear that he would continue to desert under fire or any other way. Even then the army offered him unprecedented leniency for an army in war time. They made the stakes very clear to him and he chose to keep pushing it. He was either a very aggressive gambler or he was very naive but either way he was a grown man, they were his choices to make and he made them. He effectively signed his own death warrant.

[@kevinm.8682]

@@toast2610 If somebody tells you "yes I broke the law, and I will continue repeatedly to break the law" and you believe them and punish them accordingly, they're not punishing them for their honesty they're punishing them for their crime, their lack of remorse, and their stated determination to continue doing the wrong thing.

[@toast2610]

@@kevinm.8682 That is if you take for granted the law being broken is a just law.. but also a law willfully entered into by that person. Laws aren't automatically just. As I understand it he honestly did not believe that this law that he broke was just, nor did he volunteer to fight but was forced into it by the draft. It is difficult to convince a rational person that a guy willing to die for his beliefs is not honest about those beliefs.

[@gusjackson3658]

Yes. His mates should have gotten him under control.

[@ednolan3355]

My dad was a MP captain at the stockade in Paris where Slovak was held. He talked to Slovak and felt he should not be executed. Both being from Michigan he “went to bat for him”. When he asked the Chaplin to help him get the sentence overturned the Chaplin told him Slovak could free himself any time but would have to return to the front lines. My dad confirmed the validity this offer with Slovak and found he believed his sentence would be overturned ans he would spend the remainder of the war in a safe jail cell.

[@toast2610]

Being a MP at the stockade would have been no less safe than an inmate in that stockade I presume. Your dad could have traded places with Slovak and "went to bat for him" at the front, in his stead. I guess the idea never came up. Oh well.

[@toast2610]

Then again even the Chaplin or Eisenhower could have stepped in and remedy the situation by going to the front in Slovak's stead. I guess war make people not think clearly in the moment, and hindsight is always 20 20.

[@petesmith9472]

Is everyone talking about the same guy....after all, the subject of this video is Slovik. Not Slovak.

[@KB4QAA]

@@toast2610 No he couldn't have 'traded places" or gone to the front in his stead. That isn't how military justice works. Nor civilian justice.

[@toast2610]

@@KB4QAA You mean it had nothing to do with the practicalities of winning the war. So don't think, just comply whether it make sense or not, or whether its moral or not, and this is what all justice is based on.. interesting. Sounds solid though.

[@HoH]

Correction: at 6:34, that's a photograph of President Teddy Roosevelt, not Mark Twain. My mistake. Thanks to glhmedic for pointing it out.

[@dm0065]

Im glad this was pinned so I found it first, thought I was going crazy for a minute looking at TR and thinking hell is that Twain and I've just lost it? Or did young MT look just like young TR maybe?

[@F_Tim1961]

Mr HH with The German accent - 1. Is the opening music you use from Bloch's Hebraic Rhapsody. ? I am just trying to place it. 2. Another unfortunate was one Theodore Schurch who did some minor interrogation work for the Germans after being captured. His father was Swiss so presumably he spoke Swiss German. There was something about his English which made some of he British officers guess he was really a turncoat. He was allegedly captured in Rome in March of 45 .. well after Italy had fallen. Why he did not try to get to say CH and the to Australia or Canada and simply disappear is beyond me. Perhaps his relationship with his CH relatives was not so good. Well even though the war was done and dusted by the time of his trial he was still found guilty of treachery and Hanged. .. I think he was just too cocky and he could easily have avoided the noose. I know of no other UK soldier executed by the brits for treachery or treason during WWII. K Fuchs who was a UK fast track citizen was very lucky to avoid the noose and had the USA counter intelligence caught him , he might have been given a heavy sentence while the Manhattan project was running (to prevent the other scientists going on strike during the war effort ) and then executed on some other charge post WWII. But the US never caught him in the act. Tim Fidler , NZL

[@AnotherOne0322]

Lol

[@indy_go_blue6048]

Thanks HoH. I was wondering why the heck YT was blocking out some WWII portrait.

[@GenerationKill001]

Luckiest deserter in American military history: Bo Bergdahl.

[@toast2610]

Deserting because you have the hots for some French girl, is excusable. Willing to be executed for some moral rationale.. simply unforgivable.

[@michaelguard9647]

BergDahl never paid for the loss of life of those looking for his ass after he walked off.

[@michaelwaller7365]

@@michaelguard9647 I don't think too many people would look for him now if he disappeared.

[@patrickmulroney9452]

@@toast2610 slovak,s wife was handicapped he should have been returned, home

[@pistonar]

Someone hasn't capped him yet? Hm.

[@tonyperone3242]

Slovik was not the brightest guy and should have taken the Army's kind offer of returning to duty while it was yet open to him. His response would be considered defiance and that is something no military commander will tolerate.

[@mindeloman]

It's been a while since i read his story but i seem to remember he was given many chances to rejoin his unit at the front and not take it any farther. Some where around 5 chances at least. He was hoping for jailtime. But when got death, he was all contrite and willing to go back to his unit, but he had exhausted his chances and command's patience. Some thing often not known or discussed, the greatest generation - "every wwii veteran was a hero" - had a severe desertion problem. It ultimately came down to Eisenhower and he was tired of all the bullshit desertion going on. It was time to make some examples and a kid given multiple chances to go back to his unit, would get the short straw. People seem to forget, if you have an army where everyone can do as they like, it is chaos. Basic training or boot camp is at irs very core, learning how to follow orders. The sum is bigger than the parts. But slovak deserted when his unit was going up. If he had pulled that shit while facing the enemy, an officer could and would drop him. This is military law and order. It's extremely different than rights under the constitution civilians have. And they were way more militaristic then than now. Most of the field commanders in the us army got their enlistment when horse mounted cavalry was still a thing. Hell, Patton led the last horse mounted cavalry charge in us army history.

[@johnacord5664]

What about those maggots that fled to Canada and Carter allowed back into this Country. President Reagan gave them the store during the 80s. Enough said.

[@alwyn626]

If you volunteer to go . So be it. But he didn't volunteer... didn't want to be there.

[@mindeloman]

@@alwyn626 hahahaha! You think the military makes a distinction between a draftee and a volunteer??????? Now THAT is funny. They all wear the same uniform and are subject to the same regulations. His opportunity to protest and not go to war and take a 20 year jail sentence would've been back home stateside. But he swore and oath, whether he knew what he was swearing or not. Besides, command was more than generous and sympathetic to the general enlistment army they had. It wasn't nearly as regulated as the regular army - something Patton, more than other career west point general, had a lot of issues with. Again, they gave him multiple chances to just go back to his unit. No jailtime No punishment. It would all be forgotten. Just go back. He thumbed his nose at their accommodating generosity. So his entire case lands on Eisenhower's desk. He doesn't see all these chances given as a coward. He sees this kid as a dangerous anarchists that has to be dealt with or they could have a worsening epidemic of desertion. I can't corroborate this, but i'm sure the military media made sure Slovik's story and fate was made known through out all the ranks. "That's right you young draftees and volunteers. We still execute by firing squad for desertion."

[@owenmclain3327]

@@alwyn626 Well if he didn't want to do his duty to serve his country he could have refused when he was drafted and would have got 5 years in Levenworth but no death penalty. Bit late in the game to refuse to fight when he went through training and was suited up and transported to a war theatre.

[@alwyn626]

Some people just don't want to kill. If everyone had that magical gene to be able to kill ... what a mess we'd be in. Some people have it ... others don't. It was all political. Cant set a bad example.

[@epramos6800]

If he kept his mouth shut about his scheme, he'd be alive.

[@nocturnalrecluse1216]

True

[@luceatlux7087]

the power of phoniness and self propaganda is, unfortunately, undeniable... more and more continue to find that this is the only standard of truth for them; to hell with true philosophical or altruistic ideals... it's no wonder 90% of all individuals are squirmy, intellectually dishonest bs artists; anything to legitimize and endorse any external circumstance that benefits the lowest material, tribal self, in every regard imaginable... (it's the reason the most wealthy people in the US are, overwhelmingly, republican (actual Forbes data puts the most walthy in US at a 5:1 ratio)... )

[@nocturnalrecluse1216]

@@luceatlux7087 I can say this fits a lot in MAGAt and berniebro cultures.

[@sugaashow]

@@luceatlux7087 sounds eerily similar to “liberal” leftists. 90% of democrats are squirmy, intellectually dishonest bs artists.

[@vpowerization]

I doubt! He was executed because he was captured at the time when the army was looking for an escape goat....!

[@germaxicus6670]

The French girl has 5 children out of wedlock and nobody bats an eye. But a man looks out a window to see a car accident and everybody loses their minds. Lol

[@viperfanacr]

Yessss!!!

[@Irish381]

Cest la vie oomp pa pa la la la la life goes on

[@oveidasinclair982]

Only in France

[@bangochupchup]

Lol, all of the other wives wondering which one of their husbands was sneaking around.

[@trottlesnot]

La France

[@paracausalotter4434]

Remember, when you're going against the grain of life it's sometimes best to be quiet about it.

[@TheStapleGunKid]

_"Given the situation as I knew it in November, 1944, I thought it was my duty to this country to approve that sentence. If I hadn't approved it-if I had let Slovik accomplish his purpose-I don't know how I could have gone up to the line and looked a good soldier in the face."_ --Major General Norman Cota.

[@arjax7135]

Cota was the general on Omaha Beach on D-Day who engineered the breakout from the beachhead, turning Omaha from a disaster into a success, though a very costly one. He knew what it was to look good soldiers in the face.

[@TheStapleGunKid]

@@arjax7135 Yeah that was what it boiled down to. The Army couldn't create a situation where desertion was an acceptable alternative to going into combat. If troops started getting the idea that the penalty for desertion was light enough to be worth avoiding battle, then many of them might go with that option.

[@stevewixom9311]

Spoked like a real leader.. a real soldier

[@Origami84]

@@TheStapleGunKid Tbh, i see his statement in a different way.... although it is possible he was also calculating the pr effect, of course. Anyway, i see it as "how can i look into the faces of the guys that i send to battle telling them that it is the right thing to do (to fight for the nation) when this piece of trash, a real criminal, make a mockery of desertion all but begging to be sent to prison?".

[@barrettjones2453]

@@stevewixom9311 grammar like a third grader, a real elementary student. Lol

[@wittwittwer1043]

I read a book about Slovik. According to it, he was originally rated as 4-F. But, as America casualties increased in all theaters of the war, he was re-designated and drafted. The author said that the key reason that Slovik was shot was because he admitted deserting, wrote and signed a confession, and said that if he were returned to service he would desert again.

[@HoH]

Exactly. He was adamant about deserting and refused to retract his statement. That stubbornness in combination with unfortunate circumstances in the European war theatre led to his execution.

[@finddeniro]

I have known several man that drafted Late into War. .Alert and Knew the Bad odds. Keyed up because saw many shot up man. .Wired up. .

[@dwightstewart7181]

The execution was not a secret to the men in his unit (and similar units) and the war was still going on, with potentially many more battles to come. No doubt they knew about the execution - maybe not the name, but the execution itself. His execution served to illustrate the military was not going to put up with his type of subversive bullshit. That, the subversive nature of his actions, was really the driving force behind the execution.

[@josefschmeau4682]

You may be sure that a “lucky man” NEVER depends on luck. He wasn’t unlucky , he was deliberate ! Play stupid games... win stupid prizes

[@sjwoz]

Masterful.

[@KebabMusicLtd]

Whether he himself regarded himself as unlucky isn't really the question. It is those of us who consider his case now, that may conclude that Private Slovik was unlucky, or unfortunate, or the victim of an unjust military code that wasn't applied to any of the others who ran-away. Slovik sounds like he became a conscientious objector, having witnessed whatever aspects of the war he witnessed. I have to doubt whether the military executed him simply because things weren't going their way in the Ardennes and so they wanted to make an example of him. It may have been the idea that to simply inprison him may have been seen as encouragement to others to desert or more dangerously become an objector to the very idea of enlistment.

[@sjwoz]

@@KebabMusicLtd You obviously don't know the topic or character Slovik-you posture that in this paragraph. Maybe write less and read more.....

[@toast2610]

Yes never be deliberate, honest or principled. Be a mindless order follower and play the system.

[@toast2610]

@@dukeford8893 that's because they hurt your feelings.. then pick whatever words make you happy special man.

[@Jin-Ro]

5 screaming kids, jesus, I'd rather fight the Germans.

[@johnbattista9519]

Yeah, and yelling in French! Lol

[@Teufer2]

I mean seriously you have to think about it. This were the 50s. The man stayed at home and took care of the household and children and the woman worked in a textil factory. Totally reversed gender roles at that time. He was the first house husband!

[@sunnyjim1355]

@@Teufer2 And yet nobody in the village then cared that 5 children were apparently being left alone while she went out to work all day. Weird place, France.

[@amare65]

"There are some who call me...Tim."

[@sunshineskystar]

this is 1945, if they are loud he can beat them and no one will care

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Some US armed forces deserters headed for Paris, as it was easier to stay hidden in a big city. Some became involved with the city's black market, assisting in helping goods to fall off the back of US Army trucks, in a manner of speaking.

[@suzyqualcast6269]

Indeed.

[@suzyqualcast6269]

@Roberto Tamesis for the tv filmmakers story you surely mean, fiction based upon fact.

[@suzyqualcast6269]

@John Leber Happened in 🇬🇧 as well, black gi's only, of course (!!).

[@F_Tim1961]

@John Leber IN order to keep the peace in the UK there were many executions of US personel.. something like 40 or so. Some were for killing other soldiers or officers but quite a few were for rape. If a black soldier raped a UK woman or she SAID he did , he'd be very lucky not get his neck stretched. All these executions were carried out by hanging ie treating the defendant as common criminal rather than by firing squad. US MPs normally did the executions. The convictions were under UCMJ and not UK law which really should have been applied because it is an alleged crime committed in the UK against a UK citizen ( and the UK would never execute for rape except under rape and murder circumstances in those days). Tim Fidler, NzL

[@garyschreckengost1204]

Western allies,u.s.,can.n british executed about 150 personnel in the e.to. for various cri inal acts during ww2. Without discipline, you have nothing but an armed mob..not an army.

[@rjlchristie]

So much for having the courage to honestly stand up for your convictions.

[@madandy3176]

My grandfather spent 3 years in Dartmoor prison as a conscientious objector in WWI. Originally they had planned executions but that plan was spiked when it became known that the son of a prominent MP was among them. In 1917 he was released along with a large number of other. The state clearly had done their sums but before they were released they were individually given very stern lectures and were made to sign pledges that they were not to encourage others to do the same or they would face being put back in jail. According to my grandfather one man did just that and was returned to jail not to be released until some time after the war was over. Slovik effectively made that mistake, He also cocked a snook at the authorities by trying to be clever and show them that he was smarter and knew more than them. He effectively bounced them ito doing what they did in order to save face.

[@Origami84]

Honestly, that was a waste. Objectors should just be recycled as ammo carriers or, if even that hurt their morals, front line nurses. It's not like you need to be doctor house to apply first aid, i am sure appropriate training could be given in short time.

[@kanalkanna]

@@Origami84 Well some objectors did that but some also rejected these positions.

[@Origami84]

@@kanalkanna The latter deserve jail at minimum. I respect a morality based objection, but if you reject jobs where you don't hurt anyone then you are just making excuses.

[@farleyfox1840]

I guess that's why American Soldiers called desertion "French Leave."

[@arkadiuszstepkowicz8878]

In Polish we use phrase Angielskie wyjście "English Leave" but it's not about desertion but about leaving a party or other gathering without saying anything. It's a discription of rude bahaviour. It has French origin. It's older saying and it originates from rivalry between France and England.

[@jimfinigan1681]

I always thought that it was a reference to the cowardice of French soldiers. I have heard another one: "I can get you a good deal on French army rifles. Never been fired and only dropped once."

[@abuseofviolence]

@@jimfinigan1681 read your history instead of writing this 2003 neo-cons anti-french propaganda. You look like a fool.

[@glegeant]

It's the opposite of the Fremch saying "Filer a 'langlaise!".

[@johnbattista9519]

@@jimfinigan1681 .... no.. that’s an Italian rifle.

[@meltedplasticarmyguy]

If memory serves me, Slovik was the last US military execution. Any service member executed after that were done by the civilian justice system and were no longer serving. Execution is still a punishment in the UCMJ, but the need will have to be pretty dire for a military court to resort to that.

[@jondoe8022]

Over the next "couple" of years ,they had five children? And she worked in a factory by day? Sounds like super woman

[@HoH]

I meant several years. English isn't my native language and I didn't think people interpreted 'a couple' as two. My mistake.

[@stevenschnepp576]

@@HoH A couple is always two. "A few" generally means three to five. You were probably wanting to use "several", which generally means somewhere between five and nine. Exceptions abound on the usage of few and several, though; the numbers aren't hard and fast.

[@nuclearwarhead9338]

@@HoH then hire people with English as their native language then.

[@altatude9677]

@@HoH Your English is good. Which language do you speak better?

[@charliekathis1925]

THE REASON WHY THE he was shot for deserting IKE had to make an example cause GIs had literary had dropped their weapons and ran during the Ardennes offensive and they had surended with out even without trying to pouting up a fight.

[@pitsnipe5559]

When I was a Navy recruiter I had a recruit get on the plane in Newark, NJ and when the plane landed in Chicago he disappeared. Now that’s desertion, never even made it to boot camp.

[@CrispinBac0n]

Free flight. Initiative shown, though a lack of values and standards

[@indy_go_blue6048]

Recent all volunteer service, I assume? Had he been sworn in yet? Just curious.

[@RB-ib3nf]

@@indy_go_blue6048 You swear in before you leave for boot camp. So he did desert.

[@finngleeson1312]

America troops were very lucky, only one. Britain shot hundreds in ww1, Germany shot about 30,000 in ww2 I think I remember hearing, as did the soviets, shoot more!

[@jos_meid]

The Soviets had the Germans shoot their deserters: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shtrafbat

About 500,000,I think,and when the Allies were ‘repatriating’ various Soviet groups,into Russian ports,after the War,the ships crew could hear the machine gun fire coming from inside the warehouses.

[@southerninfidel3141]

The Russians shot 12k at Stalingrad alone

[@southerninfidel3141]

@MrBilly432 .......tnx 👍

[@alecblunden8615]

I understand no UK service personnel were executed for cowardice in WW 2. It's usually considered good form to compare apples to apples.

[@rippersix293]

Eddie Slovik’s grave is a few yards away from my Grandparents graves in Woodmere Cemetery, just off Fort St. and Woodmere Ave. in Detroit, Michigan.

[@juliusc961]

I'm from Detroit. Huh?? Do you mean Woodward?? Also Woodlawn cemetery

[@jasoncarswell7458]

Yeah, they replanted him after Reagan (of all people) was persuaded it was was unfair to leave him as the sole human (albeit a weak and stupid one) buried in a yard full of genuine psychos in France. He was essentially a civilian who got drafted when he had no business being drafted and never took even the most basic aspect of the "soldier program". So let him get buried as a civilian, he didn't rape or murder anybody.

[@pirobot668beta]

A career criminal who had no business in the Army to begin with. His plan, as written, was to ride out the war in a prison cell, nice and safe. It was his refusal to take back 'the plan' that helped doom his life. Army didn't want prisons full of deserters working on their own 'plans', so after Eddie refused to play ball, they ejected him from the game.

[@maxwellbarnhart1375]

It was dumb to write the note. Maybe even arrogant. But having never been in a war like that, I can only imagine the terror of his own experiences in battle.

[@firstnamelastname489]

@Rohan Luke Do you have a source for that story? Or are you just antisemetic?

[@EnigmaEnginseer]

@Rohan Luke imma need a fact check on this one here chief

[@outdoorlife5396]

At the end of the war, or close too, the Army needed to make a example of someone to stop desertion. That said, I also understand the Army begged him to go back, to avoid excuetion. That said, he brought it on himself

[@stevenschnepp576]

@Miki Mouse ... Never mind that they were paid, and thus not slaves, and _the Army gave him every opportunity to avoid execution._ This includes prior to his being sent to the European theater, when he could have claimed conscientious objector status.

[@MrHarumakiSensei]

@@stevenschnepp576 If you get shot for trying to leave, you're a slave.

[@carycoller3140]

True, but since the execution wasn't publicized for 3 years afterwards, where was the deterrent factor if no one knew about it?

[@jboss119]

@@MrHarumakiSensei absurd

[@MrHarumakiSensei]

@@jboss119 absurd because...?

[@keithp115]

Thank you for sharing this story. I live within minutes from Hamtramck, near Detroit MI, where he was raised. He's the first thing I think of when visiting Hamtramck, famous for the Polish food and bakeries.

[@More_Row]

Good work, keep up the great videos! Seems like you've really ramped up the amount of videos you get out now.

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

Sheen in the movie, portrayed Eddie in the BEST possible light. Trying to make Eddie's situation very sympathetic. The movie came out right after Vietnam and generally did not succeed in making Eddie the victim.

[@dwightstewart7181]

Martin Sheen accepted a number of roles in movies subverting our military or our government. Most, of course, were outright lies, including his portrayal of Pvt Slovik. Slovik was, and Sheen is, an asshole.

[@micksmith5123]

He didnt want to serve, doesn't mean you should shoot him.

[@dwightstewart7181]

@@micksmith5123 .. Personally, I agree. No person should ever be FORCED to serve and potentially be killed. Sadly that's a tradition, mainly targeting poor people, dating back thousands of years. Rather than fight themselves, masters sent their servants to fight for them. Military boot camps, still existing today, browbeat them into submission. America, land of Christian equality, was supposed to eliminate that. It didn't.

[@eagle7399]

I'm sure Sheen loved the part because he hates the military and I think his portrayal was naturally accurate in showing how upfront, naive and stupid Slovik was in wanting to desert after given an opportunity to change his mind. I could see Sheen pulling the same stunt if it was him in 44 on the front lines.

[@Morrigi192]

@@dwightstewart7181 In a defensive war all options are on the table, including conscription. Deal with it.

[@wes11bravo]

Even after the war's end in the ETO, there were THOUSANDS of US Army deserters in Europe. Eddie Slovik had two attributes that sealed his fate - obstinacy and stupidity.

[@Origami84]

Being a convicted criminal probably didn't help either.

[@slick8038]

Omg there is SO MANY movie stories in WWII. Each individual person could have a book or movie made about them

[@Guitcad1]

A lot of them it would be "Hey, remember the time we moved that big order of K-rations?"

[@matthewmaguire8852]

Any life automatically becomes more vital when you have a gun pointed at your head.

[@user-me8hy8ew4o]

Imagine being killed by your own government because you don't want to get killed

[@jaredkronk4614]

You can ask the Germans or Soviet who did it by the thousands

[@crowbar9566]

He should've taken his chances at the front.

[@aris3299]

@@crowbar9566 no he shouldn't. Nobody should be obligated to go to war if they don't want to.

[@poikoi1530]

@@aris3299 hmmmm

[@aris3299]

@@poikoi1530 wha?

[@davidswift7776]

Another insightful and pragmatic commentary of an ironic situation. Thank you for an excellent KZbin post 👍

[@HoH]

Thank you kindly!

[@mclifer]

The Montella Plumbing store (it's a foot doctor office now) in Dearborn where he worked is less than a mile from my house. We knew about him as kids.

[@bangochupchup]

I was in the USMC from 1983-1987. Deserters back then were given a dishonorable discharge and sent on their way. A dishonorable discharge is like a felony conviction. It can hurt your employment prospects. Also, you cannot legally own a firearm with a dishonorable discharge.

[@robertgautreau4573]

I was in the Marines from 83-87 5th Marines 1st division they shot him because the war was over, and we still had to deal with the Russians.

[@fonziebulldog5786]

Some years ago i took care of a former by that date really old and sick German soldier without any fancy high army rank who was hiding for two years in the Norwegian woods in the Second World War when he should be sent to Stalingrad and he and his German Army friend already knew that it should be their end in pure suffering when they one day escaped and survived to the end of that war. I remember he used to look up into the sky and say, if people only knew how horrible many died in that war we all probably would stop to exist in this very moment.And sometimes he told me awful memories about what he experienced when he one day was walking beside a Tiger tank to feel safe and the tank suddenly exploded and some in the tank crew who got out screamed and begged when they was in flames to be killed. It took me some time to take in that he said. But i must to survive another day.And he ended it with, if you think only some suffer in war you are wrong when everyone suffer great in every war and those who survive who still have a beating heart will suffer every single day no matter what side they was fighting on. Sometimes i also asked him about the treatment of the jews and he told me that many not German jews who protested was taken away and killed for not supporting the new Reich.The fear was built into the walls he replied every single time when SS showed up. And when many Germans could see American and English bomber planes flying straight over these camps without doing nothing nobody cared and it just continued to the end.And one more time he said with a strange face, they knew and didnt do anything !?. And then i read some coward jokes in the comments i already know that afraid people could say and do anything without understanding even after all these years.

[@duenodelustucru]

Is that part of a neonazi novel you are working on?

[@billmers3219]

I remember seeing the movie with my dad many years ago. thanks for the very detailed story, nice job

[@richardglady3009]

Loved the second story. Thank you.

[@twoshedsjackson6478]

You can "draw the short straw" or "get the wrong end of the stick" but sadly, you CANNOT "draw the short end of the stick". No stick has a short end. Interesting video nonetheless.

[@HoH]

Haha you're completely right! Thanks for pointing it out and keeping me sharp.

[@arminiusfilms4963]

If the sticks had been cut to a specific size for drawing, then you could at a sematic level draw the short end of the stick. That would be the end of the stick that had been cut to reduce its seize.

[@wobblybobengland]

@@arminiusfilms4963 Just to further your pedantry, please explain to me how an inanimate object can seize?

[@eviletah]

Bob Terryson not the orignal poster but sometimes bolts seize, engines etc.. quite a lot of inanimate objects seize don’t be such a brown nose twat and get off your high horse bud!

[@arminiusfilms4963]

@@wobblybobengland It is not unreasonable for an inanimate object to seize especially if it has moving parts. In my example you could suggest wood would seize if the grain was to contract, for example.

[@hikerbro3870]

Wait wait wait. They investigated the house because there was "no record of a man living there"??? That's not creepy at all.

[@Pfsif]

Or everybody wearing masks for a cold when they're not sick.

[@joywebster2678]

But no 9ne questioned 5 pregnancies when no man lived there at all.

[@wallstreetwarrior7840]

Back in those times women lived with men, and were most likely married. However, the 5 kids should have caught their attention if anything at all.

[@jasoncarswell7458]

The Army MPs were on the lookout for deserters shacking up with French women. It was a common instinct for many deserters to try to "go native" and wait out the war in the hopes that they'd be overlooked and allowed to stay after the war was over. Since most of them were dipshits this effort was pretty transparent and thus attracted a lot of police attention.

[@TrekStar-lx4xg]

The neighbors probably thought he was some rapist burglar because they never saw a man living there before

[@MrSoggycat]

Isnt the fact that he is labelled the "unluckiest soldier ever" and memorialised in a book bearing his name much luckier post mortem compared the hundreds of thousands of nameless KIA? Nobody will remember their legacy.

[@mojomojo5779]

Legacies made by wars past are remembered only to justify and legitimize wars of the future.

[@captain0080]

Totally makes death by execution worth it! 10/10 would die again.

[@lordsummerisle87]

@@mojomojo5779 Tell that to France, the Low Countries and Scandinavia, liberated from years of brutal occupation. Tell that to the people who are alive today because the industrial genocide of arbitrary racial, religious and sociopolitical groups was stopped. Tell that to the people of eastern Asia whose nations' periodic raping and pillaging at the hands of the Japanese were ended. Tell that to the people of the Falkland Islands, whose peaceful sheepshagging was allowed to continue after a brief interruption by the fascist military junta of Argentina. Tell that to the prosperous and tech-dominating people of South Korea who have avoided the crushing backwards stupidity of Communist invasion. I remember legacies of wars past to remember the sacrifices and events that formed our world and learn from them. How about you?

[@Bialy_1]

@@lordsummerisle87 "Tell that to France, the Low Countries and Scandinavia, liberated from years of brutal occupation." it looks that you learning history from idiotic Hollywood movies in all places that you mentioned there was no brutal occupation especialy if you compare it to occupation of Poland. Polish citizens were allowed to eat 500-600kcal per day and they were under German occupation from 1939, in some years it was closer to 500 in some closer to 600. Normaly it should be 2000kcal for woman and 2500kcal for man and that is typical requirement for someone not doing hard physical work that Polish citizens were often forced to do. Total Civilian and Military Deaths: France 567,600 | Poland 5,600,000... Population of France(without colonies) in 1939: 41,510,000 | Population of Poland in 1939: 34,849,000. That amazing 500 to 600 kcal of food was ofc the worst food posible, stuff that Germans did not wanted to steal and in the same time you can hear in documentaries about France that owners of restaurants were forced to have German dishes in them... in the same time Polish were by law not allowed to eat meat and posesion of even grilling equipment was punished with death. Its funny that you asking him about learning from past when you clearly have little to no knowledge about that history... commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Destroyed_Warsaw,_capital_of_Poland,_January_1945_-_version_2.jpg

[@lordsummerisle87]

@@Bialy_1 I have a degree in history. Be careful making assumptions about other people when you have very limited knowledge about them, you can end up looking rather silly. I could easily have given Poland as an example but when you consider how the USSR treated it for decades afterwards it's a far less clear-cut example. That would be like a woman saying "well my husband beats me every night, but my previous husband stabbed me a few times so this is an upgrade." What horrors Poland experienced was indeed probably worse than average in Northern/Western Europe and needs to be more widely known but that doesn't take away from the fact that France, the Low Countries and Scandinavia were occupied by an invading foreign military force for several years which carried out a great number of brutal atrocities against the civpop. That occupation was ended with liberation by Allied forces fighting the Axis forces, remembered and commemorated to this day but necessarily not used as a justification for others, which was my very obvious point. I really don't know what's gone so wrong in your life you go out of your way to pick non-existent fights on the internet but I think you might need a new hobby.

[@DRFelGood]

Thank you for sharing your research

[@arnonart]

wow! what an amazing story! actually both stories. thanks!

[@Blah81150]

How about all the soldiers that didn't desert....and died? This guy was given the choice to go back to his unit and take the same risk as everybody else MULTIPLE times.

[@robertdesrosiers2382]

“Keeping it a secret” and “Making an example” are two concepts that don’t seem to work well together.

[@rimshot2270]

The word got out, as they knew it would. They just kept it secret from the public in the States.

[@stinkmonger]

his gravestone: "honor and justice prevailed" no the fuck it didn't

[@user-cz1ex7kf2g]

@I'm Back bootlicker

[@ghostxx2270]

@I'm Back Bootlicker.

[@emanuelgoncalvessantos4499]

This guy took the saying "BIG MOUTH" to another level...

[@Gun_Talk]

Soviet Union: Hold my vodka, not only am I going to execute deserters, I'm also executing the majority of people that were POWs.

[@christopherbayne9061]

Slovik ; no character and no courage. He had it coming.

[@MrJonno85]

I remember watching, in the late 70s, what I'm now sure was the Martin Sheen film of this incident.

[@alfresco8442]

I was thinking the same. It left a deep impression.

[@gusjackson3658]

I watched it too, with my late Dad, who was a veteran. Dad thought that his friends should have taken him in hand and managed him privately to help to keep him out of trouble. Who knows? Maybe it could have worked.

[@MrJonno85]

@@gusjackson3658 I was only 8 or 9 years old when I watched, so I probably didn't really understand what was going on. I only remember the execution scene, and Slovik's boot being removed after he had been shot.

[@dwightstewart7181]

Martin Sheen accepted a number of roles in movies subverting our military or our government. Most, of course, were outright lies, including his portrayal of Pvt Slovik. Slovik was, and Sheen is, an asshole.

[@MultiSkyman1]

I watched the Movie with Martin Sheen when I was a 13. I cried and never forgot about that movie!

[@4002corbe]

Did Martin Sheen enjoy it ?

[@michaelward9880]

I saw it too. They tried to make out like he was some kind of victim. He was a victim of his own stupidity and cowardice.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

I saw it too. Agree they made him look like a victim. It's the first movie I saw Martin Sheen in and was quite impressed with him.

[@Pfsif]

Never get your history facts from Hollywood.

[@michaelward9880]

@@4002corbe probably.

[@worldtraveler7048]

Wow what a beautiful video. Thank you so much sir.

[@MihaiD259]

Cool video. Truth to be told desertion is something rarely touched by documentaries about ww2.

[@TheLadyDiazepam]

"Honor and Justice Prevailed" is a cruel thing to write on the tombstone of someone executed by firing squad.

[@HoH]

My thoughts exactly.

[@ckott99]

@@HoH "Slovik was buried in Plot E of the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, his marker bearing a number instead of his name... In 1987, President Ronald Reagan ordered the repatriation of Slovik’s remains. He was re-interred at Detroit’s Woodmere Cemetery next to Antoinette..." Apparently the inscription refers to Reagan's order to repatriate Slovik's remains from Europe to the US, and not to Slovik's execution. todayinhistory.blog/tag/execution-of-private-slovik/

[@AlaskaErik]

If you'd done your homework you would know that that gravestone is the one his family placed on his grave after his remains were repatriated back to the US. His original grave marker in Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in France would have been a small stone with an identifying number on it, in Plot E, where the dishonored dead are buried separately from those who served honorably. No name, just a number, are one those grave markers in Plot E.

[@HoH]

@@AlaskaErik i didn't know that, but it makes a lot of sense. Thank you.

[@somethingelse4878]

Yes I thought it was a nasty thing to put on his marker. Maybe he could have been offered a chance to go on a risky mission

[@kidvette2004]

This guy has the same accent as Werner Herzog and I like it

[@PB-tr5ze]

I can understand why the army took such a harsh line. His actions would have been a cancer to moral. If guys found out that they could just run away before they were even in danger, and not get in serious trouble, they might consider the risk worth it. Suddenly whole units might refuse to fight, moral would crash like a rock and the units that will fight now have to carry a heavier load, destroying the effectiveness. Its clear from his own words that he thought he saw an easy out. Other guys would have seen it too,and worked our a way to get "a bus ticket home" of the plan had worked. It's like in today's Military, some guys in basic decide that they want out, so instead of riding out their time, they start pulling wierd stunts and claiming "self ending" thoughts. The army has to quickly cut that guy out if the training units because when the others see that there is no real penalty for the behavior others start replicating the behaviour. Today you are not likely to end up in jail, so there is a lot of incentive to game the system for an easy out.

[@patrickmulroney9452]

so why did they keep it secret?

[@PB-tr5ze]

@@patrickmulroney9452 a secret hundreds if not thousands of people knew? I'm going to guess it had more to do with civilian interference than the desire for secrecy. For most civilians the idea of being executed for cowardice seems harsh. The average person, who has never seen combat or served, might not understand how someone can disrupt moral, unit cohesion and combat efficiency just by refusing an order or running away. Look at some of the comments, one person actually wrote that the Army "Murdered" the guy... no consideration for the fact that the guy was willing to let others fight or die in his place and that the guy was trying to cheat his way through the system. While I can't speak for the decision to keep it "in-house", I can imagine at least some of the possible reasons.

[@slapeters2004]

Very well done documentary!

[@dblrainbow_omg]

thank you just found your channel really appreciate your work

[@johnnytarponds9292]

You “Draw a short straw” or you get the “Dirty end of the stick”.

[@SynapticTransmission]

For those who believe sociopaths in high office is a recent thing.

[@ottodachat]

just think the Red Army used unarmed prisoners (most likely many were deserters) to march through mine fields since they had no means of mine detecting. So the US Army back then was for the most part civilized in light of all the chaos.

[@ottodachat]

@Koba thanks! been years since I studied the Nazi Russian war/battles , but would like to write the libretto for: Stalingrad: The Musical

[@j.p.5013]

The Americans literally bombed their own allies.

[@shoominati23]

Mark Twain is such a contentious subject, I guess he warrants being blurred out

[@HoH]

I accidentally used the wrong photograph, which some viewers rightly pointed out. I wasn't sure how to fix it, since I can't change the picture. Blurring it seemed like the next best option 😅

[@terryhill545]

My son in law has a large photo of a ww2 army unit in Louisiana .It was left to him by his step father who was a combat vet in ww2.Slovik is in the photo.It appears to be a training graduation scene.Very interesting piece of history.

[@ralphyznaga1761]

Thanks for the video. I enjoyed your storytelling. I am now subscribed and look forward to seeing more.

[@HoH]

Thanks, much appreciated!

[@harrisbobroff9813]

G. Washington had a few executed, right here in NJ.

[@jimjonrs3932]

4:12 stripped of his medals? What medals did he earn?

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Probably a mistake for insignia. It was normal to remove insignia from a uniform before execution, like the "US" on the collar, things like that.

[@stevenschnepp576]

The Army gives medals just for showing up.

[@arjax7135]

And even if he had, why would he be wearing them at that moment.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

I got that red, white, blue and yellow National Service medal just for serving 60 days of active duty. He may have been eligible for the ETO decoration. What I can't figure out is seeing contemporary officers with 5 or 6 rows x 3 ribbons per row did since 1990 or so to win so many decorations.

[@amberlopez7477]

Slovik was a criminal. For every crime that he was convicted of, there we many more that he wasn't caught doing. I think justice was done in his case.

[@user-kr6yj4rh1l]

Great stuff, good to hear about the real life stories of the men in war time.. Thanks

[@joha790]

Love all your videos, they are compellingly interesting. Very professional and eloquent in presentation. What is the book "Occulte", on the desk in the background about?

[@ExRhodesian]

Slovik paid the price of being a gambler the ultimate buzz for a gambler is the life or death situation, he rolled the dice and lost. A salute for this gambling fool. Powers was just an out and out shirker no salute for that scoundrel.

[@sjwoz]

Yes!

[@pwareham61]

That was rough justice.

[@jimsmith8435]

Years ago in the 1970s, a television film was produced starring Martin Sheen, called The Execution of Private Eddie Slovik. I was a kid in high school when it aired. I remember it was powerful and had me in tears at the end when he was killed by firing squad.

[@peterjackson2666]

I thought that execution was reserved for those who deserted 'in the face of the enemy'. It seems that Slovik made sure he never got that close to the enemy.

[@Bloodflowers29]

Actually he first separated from his unit while under artillery fire. And was given three chances to rip up his letter and rejoin a unit. Actions have consequences.

[@michaelkopala471]

It was not up to him to decide.

[@plutoniusis]

Patton said , we fought wrong enemy in a WWII .

[@lordbaysel3135]

He faced his real enemy, the army.

[@EnigmaEnginseer]

@@plutoniusis both the Nazis and the Soviets are gone now

[@kyleriker4695]

You are very knowledgeable and well-spoken and so you have earned yourself a subscriber good day to you sir

[@HoH]

Welcome aboard!

[@701duran]

great video as always but I would have liked to be a fly on the wall as the french police questioned Powers lol

[@stephenhoward6829]

The man stated, repeatedly, an intent to desert. He DID desert. He was given warning against his choice to state intent, and multiple chances to change his actions and retract his written statement. He repeatedly refused. The French have a phrase for it, 'Pour encourager les autres', "For the encouragement of others. More accurately, the DIS-couragement of others, from following such a course of action. An example needed to be made, his case allowed for it, and so it was done. No sympathy.

[@TheGreatest1974]

Most probably just an objector to war. Not everyone is cut out for active combat. Saying that- there were many cases of fighting men who just knew their time was coming up, even told their friends- but they went into battle anyway and died. But I still can’t approve of killing a man for his objection to war.

[@TheGreatest1974]

@DOUG HEINS okay man.

[@timothycook2917]

Slovik was not only given multiple opportunities to recant his desertion letter, but he was also caught actively trying to recruit or encourage Canadian soldiers to desert

[@patrickmulroney9452]

my father was in that rca canadian unit and said slovak never did that!

[@stevenschnepp576]

@@patrickmulroney9452 I wouldn't be so sure that your father knew everything going on in his unit. There's things that have gone on in my own units that I had no idea about until well after the fact.

[@mattmccracken1768]

Good video. I remember reading an article a very long time ago by a former Army officer who was trying to get Slovik's body exhumed and returned to the United States so his wife, who was still alive, could give him a proper burial. The officer remarked that during the Battle of the Bulge, which he took part in, thousands of U.S. soldiers and officers deserted their posts. Some were taken prisoner, but many made it back to U.S. lines. After witnessing that he was convinced Slovik got a raw deal.

[@MGB-learning]

Great video and presentation.

[@HoH]

Thank you!

[@rollingstone3652]

"They had 5 children in the next couple of years." Wow! That's impressive. The man is my God!

[@dDoOyYoOuUtTuUbBeE]

And the woman who actually carried them. But how? Triplets?

[@Larry93215]

He was just one of over 50 million souls killed in that war may God have mercy

[@minesweeperlegend]

He’s Polish-American, so am I. He’s was born in Detroit, I was born near Detroit. He died Jan. 31st 1945, I was born Jan. 31st 2001. Some weird coincidences

[@yharnamenjoyer7648]

Don’t get drafted and definitely don’t desert

[@emmanuelharris6445]

I Was Born On Jan. 31st, 1996. Meaning I’m 5 Years Older Than You. Also Fun Fact In Case You Never Knew About, You We’re Born On That Day When Sega Announced The Dreamcast Console Would Discontinue On January 31st, 2001. Sad But Legendary Though At The Same Time.

[@MrEnjoivolcom1]

Fantastic video!

[@davidmcmanus4751]

Many years ago I worked at a Cracker Barrel as a dishwasher. At the time of my employment there was a cook that worked there that was a retired Army Special Forces member. He told me that these types of "executions" are still carried out, even today. He said that while he was enlisted, it was his job to go after soldiers who went AWOL and to bring them back dead or alive. He said he brought many back dead, because many refused to come back for any reason. . Many people would think that the atrocities of war would be enough reason to go AWOL, but the interesting thing is that these people who went AWOL and refused to return to base went into the country that their base was in and refused to go back to base. Some people would call these people traitors, but another perspective would be that maybe our military is just so corrupt, that soldiers refused to be a part of the corruption. I've read lots of stories from military personnel talking about drug use, rape, prostitution, and even murder. If any of those stories are true, then I guess I can't blame them for leaving. More by the Grace of God, I was medically separated from boot camp because of injury to my lower back. I never made it through boot camp, but after learning about all of this, I'm glad I never made it. . I've been told that a lot of our soldiers died from friendly fire, and just wreckless stupidity all the time. There were a couple of soldiers in the middle east during Desert Storm who never saw enemy action, but were killed because they were standing on one side of a sand dune, and some jackass randomly driving a hummer over sand dunes, jumped the sand dune they were behind and landed on them. There was another Army soldier that killed himself and several others because he was playing a game of jumping on a land mine; the belief being that it takes the weight of a vehicle to set it off. Well, he jumped on it over and over and then BOOM! Killed himself and countless others, nearby. Nice to know our military takes war seriously if "accidents" like this occur all the time. So glad I never made it.

[@tboman4128]

Oh STFU.

[@rita-pk6ut]

My heart goes out to him, why would he fight against other europeans, i was a late child, my father refused to fight for british king, he told me he jumped in to coal barge to get back non committted country.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

I am interested. How did he fare through the war years then? Where did he go?

[@rita-pk6ut]

@@gregorymalchuk272 He was labouring at time in England, he was son of Irish farmer, but i think he did not want farm, he wanted to see World, returned to Ireland, met my mother had six children, lived to 82 smoked every day but hardly bothered the Doctor.

[@michaelsix9684]

he should have never been drafted, he barely passed basic and should have been given a job with a support function

[@johnhunter7386]

This may sound heartless, but I don't have a lot of sympathy for him. My dad fought in WW2 and saw action and never would have even thought of deserting. It comes down to integrity.

[@chairde]

My father was a WWII veteran and never heard of this story until decades later. He was really angry when he heard about this. The generals mishandled the situation.

[@kenfox5442]

Excellent Video

[@shanewright2772]

Unfortunate Slovik? Rubbish. The man was a coward who would happily let others die in his place. It wasnt so much a question of him not deserving the harsh but just treatment he got as all the others who were let off not deserving the easy treatment they got.

[@markwheeler202]

Martin Sheen's portrayal of Pvt Slovik was one of the most heart-wrenching performances I ever saw.

[@dwightstewart7181]

Martin Sheen accepted a number of roles in movies subverting our military or our government. Most, of course, were outright lies, including his portrayal of Pvt Slovik. Slovik was, and Sheen is, an asshole.

[@lordbaysel3135]

@@dwightstewart7181 Oh, great american military killing civilians by carpet bombing in last days of already won war. Or using nuclear bomb on city, rather than some military base, or at least industrial complex. There were many worse guys than you, but that doesn't make you good

[@dwightstewart7181]

@@lordbaysel3135 .. Guy, I wasn't even alive at the time (WWII), so don't blame me. Hell, you probably weren't alive either, so climb off your high horse. What did your country do during WWII? I noticed you were careful to not even mention your country. Anyway, an atomic bomb does not have the selectivity to target just a military base or industrial complex. It's a weapon of mass destruction. While I question the use of those weapons, the targets are the least of my concern.

[@hjshort1]

Slovik was a common street criminal who somehow got into the Army. How he got married is a mystery, he was simply a low-life and a coward. You reap what you sow, he got his just desserts.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

He seems not to have been in trouble back in the States after he got married. How he got married? Presumably somebody loved him. "Somehow got into the army". He didn't join voluntarily, he was conscripted, and his fairly minor criminal record did not disqualify him - earlier in the war it would have. Then rising casualties meant people with minor records were no longer exempt. Perhaps it would have been better for everybody, including Slovik, if he had not been called up.

[@micksmith5123]

I would have loved to fight in ww2 for anyside (not counting the Soviets) but if a man doesn't want to serve, dont make him serve.

[@joeblow5178]

@@micksmith5123 Then you would be dead. Sorry. Think of nothing....... sad

[@micksmith5123]

@@joeblow5178 i we all gonna die anyway, live a good life

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@micksmith5123 Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of servicemen and occasionally servicewomen deserted from all the armed forces of WW2. Not everyone was cut out for service in which for the most part they were conscripts.

[@sheilamacdougal4874]

My father used to lecture me about the Execution of Private Slovik every time I got in trouble in school. He said if I got a bad reputation I would be singled out for punishment, like Slovik, even if my new offense was light.

[@cheesegyoza]

He should have asked to be transferred to something behind the front lines that should have been his first request. Then if his request was denied he should have sucked it up and then went to the front lines.