Private Eddie Slovik died for Bowe Bergdahl's Sins....
In World War Two over 21,000 men were charged with desertion. In many cases they were given (as was Pvt Slovik) multiple opportunities to return to their units with charges being dropped and instead they chose judicial punishment over a combat assignment. Of these men, 49 were sentenced death. Pvt Slovic was executed by firing squad in the courtyard of a French mansion on the 31st of January 1945. He remains the only US soldier executed for desertion since the Civil War....
Eddie Slovik was a petty thief with multiple convictions who had done jail time.He was paroled in 1942 and was considered unfit for duty (4F) due to his criminal record. He appeared to go straight, marrying and taking a job.Shortly after his marriage he was reclassified 1A and drafted. Eddie reported to Camp Wolters Texas for basic training on the 24th of January 1944. He had one year plus one week to live.
His execution was at least partially political-his desertion occurred at a time when moral among combat units was at am all time low. In December over a half million German troops had launched a desperate last ditch offensive in the forests that would come to be known as the battle of the Bulge. Combat troops were ordered to witness the execution so they could tell their units of the event-one witness tells his story here:http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_720477.html#axzz33g0dMb00
I think of Private Slovik today as questions are again asked about a soldier's behavior under fire. Calls are again being made for vengeance against a man who for all his flaws, is not necessarily a coward or failure, but who has become merely a political flashpoint and a rallying cry for forces from the right.
Somewhere down the road Sgt. Bergdahl will answer for his actions, and I like to think that justice will not be mocked. But perhaps the tragedy of Eddie Slovik is best captured by the words of a witness to his execution; ""He paid the price of several thousand people deserting during the war," Gozik said. "Believe me when I tell you, to me, he was the bravest soldier I ever met.".
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