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List of people executed by the United States military
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The following is a list of people executed by the United States military. The list separates executions by branches; the Uniform Code of Military Justice did not exist until 1950.[1]
Executions after the enactment of Uniform Code of Military Justice
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A total of ten military executions have been carried out by the United States Army under the provisions of the original Uniform Code of Military Justice of May 5, 1950. Executions must be approved by the president of the United States.[2] Only a general courts martial may award a sentence of death. As such, they are therefore subject to an automatic process of review.[3] The first four of these executions, those of Bernard John O'Brien, Chastine Beverly, Louis M. Suttles and James L. Riggins, were carried out by military officials at the Kansas State Penitentiary near Lansing, Kansas. The remaining six executions took place in the boiler room of the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Currently, military executions are to take place at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. Hanging and not shooting was the method employed in these ten executions. Electrocution was also made an authorized method, but was never used.[4] Currently, lethal injection is the only available method.[5]
Demographics
People currently awaiting execution under the UCMJ
Four people are currently awaiting execution under the UCMJ. All executions, if carried out, will be by lethal injection.
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Executions by the Army in World War II and afterwards
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The United States Army carried out 141[6] executions over a three-year period from 1942 to 1945 and a further six executions were conducted during the postwar period, for a known total of 147.[7] These figures do not include individuals executed by the US Army after being convicted by US Military Courts for violations of the laws of war, including German soldiers who were shot after being caught in American uniform as part of Operation Greif during the Battle of the Bulge.[8]
Of these 141 wartime executions, 70 were carried out in the European Theatre, 27 in the Mediterranean Theatre, 21 in the Southwest Pacific Area, 19 in the contiguous United States, two in Hawaii, one in Guadalcanal and one in India; of the six postwar executions, one took place in Hawaii, one in Japan, two in France and two in the Philippines. An execution was also carried out by the United States Air Force in Japan in 1950.
All executions carried out by the Army from 1942 to 1948 were performed under the authority of the Articles of War of June 4, 1920, an Act of Congress which governed military justice between 1920 and 1951.
This list includes members of the United States Army Air Forces, which was a part of the Army until September 18, 1947, when it became independent. Executions by the United States Air Force after 1947 are listed separately.
With the exception of Eddie Slovik, who was shot for desertion, all of these soldiers were executed for murder and/or rape. Several of the soldiers listed as convicted and executed for murder and/or rape had also been convicted of other charges, including those of a military nature such as desertion and mutiny, plus lesser crimes that would not have been considered capital unless combined with more serious offenses which carried the death penalty.
Sources for list in References section.
Plot E
The US Army executed 98 servicemen following General Courts Martial (GCM) for murder and/or rape in the European Theater of Operations during the Second World War. The remains of these servicemen were originally buried near the site of their executions, which took place in countries as far apart as England, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Algeria. In 1949 the remains of these men and a few others were re-interred in Plot E, a private section specifically built to hold what the Graves Registration referred to as "the dishonorable dead", since (per standard practice) all had been dishonorably discharged from the US Army just prior to their executions.
Plot "E" is detached from the main four cemetery plots for the honored dead of World War I at the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial.[9] It is located across the road, and deliberately hidden from view, inside a 100 x 50-foot oval-shaped clearing surrounded by hedges and hidden in thick forest. It is not mentioned on the ABMC website or in any guide pamphlets or maps. The plot is accessible only through the back door of the superintendent's office.[10] Access is difficult and visitors are not encouraged, though the section is maintained by cemetery caretakers who periodically mow the lawn area and trim the hedges. One cemetery employee described Plot E as "a house of shame" and "a perfect anti-memorial".[11] Today Plot E contains nothing but 96 flat stone markers (arranged in four rows) and a single small granite cross. The white grave markers are the size of index cards and have nothing on them except sequential grave numbers engraved in black. Two bodies were later disinterred and allowed to be returned to United States for reburial.
No US flag is permitted to fly over the section, and the numbered graves lie with their backs turned to the main cemetery on the other side of the road.[12]
Three of the people buried in Plot E were not executed: Willie Hall, Joseph J. Mahoney and William N. Lucas, who all died while in military custody.
The only person interred who was not convicted of rape and/or murder was Eddie Slovik, who was executed for desertion on January 31, 1945. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan gave permission for Slovik's remains to be exhumed and returned to the United States for reburial.[13] The remains of Alex F. Miranda were exhumed and returned to the United States in 1990.
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Executions of German POWs during World War II
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In 1945, the United States Army executed fourteen German prisoners of war by hanging at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The 14 POWs, members of the German armed services, had been convicted by general court-martial for the murders of fellow Germans believed by their fellow inmates to be collaborating as confidential informants with the United States military authorities. While the murders had been committed in 1943 and 1944, the executions were delayed until after the end of hostilities in Europe due to fears of German retaliation against Allied POWs.
The hangings were carried out in a warehouse elevator shaft which had been converted into a temporary gallows, and the fourteen Germans were buried in the Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery.[14]
Executions by the Air Force
The United States Air Force executed three airmen by hanging between 1950 and 1954. The execution of Robert E. Keller was conducted under the authority of the 1920 Articles of War, and those of Burns and Dennis Jr. were carried out under a short-lived revised version of the Articles of War popularly known as the Elston Act of 1948.[citation needed]
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Executions by the Navy
The United States Navy has executed seventeen sailors and Marines for various offenses; the most famous of these were three crew members of the USS Somers who were hanged for conspiracy to mutiny in 1842.
As of 2021[update], no member of the U.S. Navy has been executed since October 23, 1849[update], when brothers John and Peter Black were simultaneously hanged at the yardarm for leading a mutiny on board the schooner Ewing.[15]
The United States Navy hanged 14 Japanese soldiers for war crimes committed on Guam during World War II.[16]
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Executions by the Coast Guard
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The United States Coast Guard has only executed one person since its reorganization as a member of the Armed Forces in 1915. James Horace Alderman was a bootlegger and gangster during Prohibition, active off the eastern coast of Florida. During a Coast Guard boarding by the 75-foot patrol boat CG-249, Alderman and accomplice Robert Weech shot and killed the boat's commanding officer and a Secret Service agent and wounded two other coast guardsmen, one of whom later died of his injuries.
Alderman was tried by a federal judge, Henry D. Clayton, and convicted on two counts of murder on the high seas. He was sentenced to death and denied clemency by President Calvin Coolidge. While the federal government requested the Broward County authorities conduct the execution, upon their refusal the execution was moved to the nearest federal facility: Coast Guard Base 6 (now Station Fort Lauderdale) on Bahia Mar. Alderman was hanged at 6:04 am on August 17, 1929, and was buried in an unmarked grave in lot 5, section C of Miami Memorial Park cemetery. The gallows were purpose-built by Base 6 personnel in the base seaplane hangar and were only used for this single execution. It remains the only execution by the Coast Guard and the only federal execution of a smuggler during the enforcement of Prohibition.[17]
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See also
Notes
References
Sources
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