tom d. friedman wrote:
fascinating story james, how did you come about it?? what drove this guy to defect?? fyi unrelated to this thread, only 1 u.s. serviceman was executed during ww 2, private eddie slovik, infantryman europe. he refused to fight due to religious reasons. general eisenhower approved the execution by firing squad.
I had heard of Monti before and I thought it was here? As for Eddy Slovik that was a real tragedy and travesty. My understanding is that Slovik was rather slow and probably should never have been sent to a combat zone. His "desertion" I think was a result of being separated from his unit in combat and taking up with a different unit without authorization or failing to report. I don't think religous beliefs had anything to do with it. As for Eisenhower desertion in France was becoming a real problem and SHAEF wanted to do something about it. The travesty was that there were plenty of genuine criminals more deserving of capital punishment for desertion than Slovik.