List of people executed by the United States military

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

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]

No.	Name	Race	Age	Sex	Date of execution	Location of crime	Method	Victim(s)	President
1	Bernard John O'Brien	White	34	M	July 31, 1954	Bad Aibling, Bavaria, West Germany	Hanging	Dorothy Lucia O'Brien	Dwight D. Eisenhower
2	Chastine Beverly	Black	25	M	March 1, 1955	Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, United States		Harry Langly
3	Louis M. Suttles		26	M
4	James L. Riggins		28	M
5	Thomas J. Edwards		23	M	February 14, 1957	West Germany		Unnamed victim
6	Winfred D. Moore		23	M		Fort Bragg, North Carolina, United States		Charles Pettit
7	Ernest L. Ransom		26	M	April 3, 1957	Incheon, SCA, Korea		2 unnamed victims
8	Abraham Thomas		29	M	July 23, 1958	Gersthofen, Bavaria, West Germany		4 murder victims [a]
9	John E. Day, Jr.		30	M	September 23, 1959	Seoul, SCA, Korea		Lee Mak Chun
10	John Arthur Bennett		25	M	April 13, 1961	Siezenheim, Salzburg, Austria		Unnamed victim	John F. Kennedy

Demographics

Race
Black	9	90%
White	1	10%
Age
20–29	8	80%
30–39	2	20%
Sex
Male	10	100%
Date of execution
1950–1959	9	90%
1960–1969	1	10%
1970–1979	0	0%
1980–1989	0	0%
1990–1999	0	0%
2000–2009	0	0%
2010–2019	0	0%
2020–2029	0	0%
Method
Hanging	10	100%
President (Party)
Harry S. Truman (D)	0	0%
Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)	9	90%
John F. Kennedy (D)	1	10%
Lyndon B. Johnson (D)	0	0%
Richard Nixon (R)	0	0%
Gerald Ford (R)	0	0%
Jimmy Carter (D)	0	0%
Ronald Reagan (R)	0	0%
George H. W. Bush (R)	0	0%
Bill Clinton (D)	0	0%
George W. Bush (R)	0	0%
Barack Obama (D)	0	0%
Donald Trump (R)	0	0%
Joe Biden (D)	0	0%
Total	10	100%

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.

Name	Date of sentencing	Crime
Ronald A. Gray	April 12, 1988	Two specifications of premeditated murder, one specification attempted premeditated murder, and three specifications of rape
Hasan Karim Akbar	April 28, 2005	Two specifications of premeditated murder and three specifications of attempted premeditated murder
Timothy B. Hennis	April 15, 2010	Three specifications of premeditated murder
Nidal Malik Hasan	August 28, 2013	Thirteen specifications of premeditated murder

Executions by the Army in World War II and afterwards

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.

Name	Date of execution	Location	Method	President
James Rowe	November 6, 1942	Fort Huachuca, Arizona	Hanging	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Edward J. Leonski	November 9, 1942	Pentridge Prison, Melbourne, Australia, Southwest Pacific Area
Jerry Sykes	January 19, 1943	Fort Huachuca, Arizona
David Cobb	March 12, 1943	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater
George S. Knapp	March 19, 1943	Bastrop, Texas
Francis A. Line	March 26, 1943	Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona
Harold A. Smith	June 25, 1943	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater
James E. Kendrick	July 17, 1943	Oran, Algeria, North African Theater of Operations **
Levi Brandon	July 26, 1943	Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Walter J. Bohn	August 6, 1943	Camp Claiborne, Louisiana
Willie A. Pittman	August 30, 1943	Sicily, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **
Harvey Stroud
Armstead White
David White
Charles H. Smith	September 6, 1943	Algiers, North African Theater of Operations **
Lee A. Davis	December 14, 1943	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater **
Edwin P. Jones	January 5, 1944	Oran, Algeria, North African Theater of Operations
John H. Waters	February 10, 1944	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater **
J.C. Leatherberry	March 16, 1944
Charles A. Spears	April 18, 1944	Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **
Wiley Harris, Jr.	May 26, 1944	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater **
Alex F. Miranda	May 30, 1944		Firing squad
Robert L. Donnelly	May 31, 1944	Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **	Hanging
Eliga Brinson	August 11, 1944	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater **
Willie Smith
Clarence Whitfield	August 14, 1944	Normandy, France, European Theater **
Ray Watson	August 29, 1944	Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **
James W. Peoples	September 2, 1944	Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area
Harry Bever	September 26, 1944	Fort Sill, Oklahoma
Arthur T. Brown	October 2, 1944	Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area
Andrew Gibson
Leroy E. Greene
Charles A. Horne
Eugene A. Washington, Jr.
Lloyd L. White, Jr.
Madison Thomas	October 12, 1944	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater **
James B. Sanders	October 25, 1944	European Theater **
Ray W. Anderson
Paul Kluxdal	October 31, 1944
Willie Wimberly, Jr.	November 9, 1944
Joseph Watson
Avelino Fernandez	November 15, 1944	Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area
Curtis L. Maxey	November 16, 1944	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **
Richard Scott	November 18, 1944	European Theater **
William D. Pennyfather
Theron McGann	November 20, 1944
Arthur E. Davis	November 22, 1944
Charles H. Jordan
James E. Hendricks	November 24, 1944	Normandy, France, European Theater **
Benjamin Pygate	November 28, 1944	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater **	Firing squad
Oscar N. Newman	November 29, 1944	European Theater **	Hanging
Leo Valentine, Sr.
Charles Williams	December 18, 1944	United States
William E. Davis	December 27, 1944	European Theater **
Sylvester Davis	January 5, 1945	Randolph Air Force Base, Texas
Augustine Guerra	January 8, 1945	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater **
Ernest L. Clark
John D. Cooper	January 9, 1945	European Theater **
John R. O'Connor	January 15, 1945	Fort Benning, Georgia
Waiter J. Baldwin	January 17, 1945	European Theater **
Arthur J. Farrell	January 19, 1945
James W. Twiggs	January 22, 1945
Samuel Hawthorne	January 29, 1945	Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area
Marvin Holden	January 30, 1945	Lemur, Belgium **
Elwood J. Spencer
Eddie Slovik	January 31, 1945	Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France, European Theater **	Firing squad
J.P. Wilson	February 2, 1945	European Theater **	Hanging
Robert L. Skinner	February 10, 1945
Yancy Waiters
William Mack	February 15, 1945
Otis B. Crews	February 21, 1945	Mediterranean Theater **
Williams C. Downes	February 28, 1945	European Theater **
Amos Agee	March 3, 1945
John C. Smith
Frank Watson
Olins W. Williams	March 9, 1945
Lee A. Burns	March 11, 1945	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **
General L. Grant		Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **
Herman Perry	March 15, 1945	Ledo, Assam, India
Robert L. Pearson	March 17, 1945	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater **
Cubia (Parson) Jones
Henry Baker	March 18, 1945	Philippines
John M. Mack	March 20, 1945	Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **
John W. Taylor
Kinney Jones
Robert A. Pearson		Guadalcanal
Abraham Smalls	March 27, 1945	Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **
Tommie Davison	March 29, 1945	European Theater **
William Harrison, Jr.	April 7, 1945	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater **
Curn Jones	April 10, 1945	Fort Benning, Georgia
Benjamin F. Hopper	April 11, 1945	European Theater **
Dan Boswell	April 16, 1945	Camp Bowie, Texas		Harry S. Truman
James L. Jones	April 19, 1945	European Theater **
Mileert Bailey
John Williams
William T. Curry	April 20, 1945	Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area
Shelton McGhee, Sr.	May 4, 1945	Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **
George E. Smith, Jr.	May 8, 1945	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater **
George Green, Jr.	May 15, 1945	European Theater **
Haze Heard	May 21, 1945
William McCarter	May 28, 1945
Clete O. Norris	May 31, 1945
Alvery R. Rollins
Matthew Clay, Jr.	June 4, 1945
Werner E. Schmiedel	June 11, 1945	Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **
Ancieto Martinez	June 15, 1945	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater **
Victor Ortiz *	June 21, 1945	European Theatre
Willie Johnson	June 26, 1945	European Theater **
Fred A. McMurray	July 2, 1945	Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **
Louis Till
Charles H. Jefferies	July 5, 1945
John T. Jones
Henry W. Nelson
Tom E. Gordon	July 10, 1945	European Theater **
Harold Crabtree	July 31, 1945	Philippines	Firing squad
Cornelius Thomas	August 1, 1945	Schofield Barracks, Hawai'i	Hanging
Jesse D. Boston			Firing squad
Robert Davidson	August 6, 1945	Green Haven Correctional Facility, New York
Ernest J. Harris	August 9, 1945	Philippines	Hanging
Lee R. Davis	August 14, 1945	Fort Sill, Oklahoma
Herbert W. Reid		Camp Beale, California
Clinton Stevenson
Ellis McCloud, Jr.	August 20, 1945	Philippines
Robert Wray		European Theater **
Edward J. Reichl	August 22, 1945	United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Harvey W. Nichols	August 28, 1945	Philippines
Albert Williams
Bradley Walters, Jr.	August 31, 1945
Henry C. Philpot	September 10, 1945	European Theater **
Fred Hurse	September 20, 1945	United States
Clarence Gibson	September 24, 1945		Firing squad
James C.Thomas	September 25, 1945	Philippines	Hanging
Charles M. Robinson	September 28, 1945	European Theater **
Blake W. Mariano	October 10, 1945
Sidney Bennerman	October 15, 1945		Firing squad
Woodrow Parker
Ozell Louis		Philippines	Hanging
Charlie Ervin, Jr.	October 19, 1945	Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II **	Firing squad
Mansfield Spinks
Dan J. Lee	November 9, 1945	Philippines
Ellsworth Williams	January 5, 1946	Germany, European Theater **	Hanging
Solomon Thompson	September 11, 1946	European Theater
Garlon Mickles	April 22, 1947	Schofield Barracks, Hawai'i
James Norman	April 25, 1947	Philippines
William Abney	December 1, 1947	Mandaluyong, Philippines
Manuel Martinez	April 23, 1948	Landsberg Prison, Germany, European Theater
Stratman Armistead	December 16, 1948	Nakano, Japan, Far East Command

Plot E

Main article: Oise-Aisne American Cemetery 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.

Executions of German POWs during World War II

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]

Name	Age	Date of Execution	Crime	President
Walter Beyer	32	July 10, 1945	Murder of Johannes Kunze	Harry S. Truman
Hans Demme	23
Hans Schomer	27
Willie Scholz	22
Berthold Seidel	30
Erich Gauss	32	July 14, 1945	Murder of Horst Günther
Rudolph Straub	39
Helmut Fischer	22	August 25, 1945	Murder of Werner Drechsler
Fritz Franke	21
Günter Külsen	22
Heinrich Ludwig	25
Bernhard Reyak	21
Otto Stengel	26
Rolf Wizny	23

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 ]}

Name	Date of execution	Location	Crime	President
Robert E. Keller	March 11, 1950	Nakano, Japan	Premeditated murder	Harry S. Truman
Robert W. Burns	January 28, 1954	Guam	Premeditated murder	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Herman P. Dennis, Jr.

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]

Name	Date of execution
Kōsō Abe	June 19, 1947
Shigematsu Sakaibara
Kikuji Ito
Noboru Nakajima
Koju Shoji
Kiyoshi Takahashi
Yoshio Tachibana	September 24, 1947
Masaharu Tanaka
Shizuo Yoshii
Sueo Matoba
Tadao Igawa
Hiroshi Iwanami	January 17, 1949
Shimpei Asano	March 31, 1949
Chisato Ueno

Executions by the Coast Guard

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]

See also

• Capital punishment by the United States military
• Capital punishment in the United States
• Military prison

Notes

1. The 4 victims were: Walburga Wenderoth, Anna Wiegel, Corporal Edward Peters, and Sergeant Bennett.

References

1. "Truman Signs Code of Service Justice". The New York Times . May 7, 1950. p. 82. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
2. Army Regulation 190-55, Washington, DC: United States Army Publishing Directorate, 2019, 1–4, 1006220
3. "Chapter XII: Appeals and Review", Manual for Courts Martial, United States Department of Defense, Rule 1201. Review by the Judge Advocate General, 2019
4. Baldor, Lolita C. (June 29, 2006). "Iraq murder charges raise specter of rarely used military death sentence". Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 13, 2010. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
5. Browne, Ryan (2016-12-28). "US military could carry out first execution in over 50 years". CNN . Retrieved 2024-05-12.
6. Investigations of the National War Effort, June 1946
7. US Army deserter Karl Hultén was executed 8 March 1945 for the 1944 murder of an English cab driver. He was tried and executed under English law.
8. "German commandos captured in American uniform are prepared for execution, 1944 - Rare Historical Photos". 27 January 2017.
9. American Battle Monuments Commission: Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Official Website, As of June 22, 2009
10. "Bing Maps – Driving Directions, Traffic and Road Conditions". Binged.it. 2015-03-04. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
11. Kaplan, Alice. The Interpreter. Free Press: New York, 2005. 172–3.
12. Huie, William Bradford.The Execution of Private Slovik. Westholme: Yardley, 1954. 4–7.
13. Huie, William Bradford. "The Execution of Private Slovik". Westholme Publishing, 2004. ISBN   1-59416-003-1
14. Fort Leavenworth Military Prison cemetery
15. Details of the mutiny
16. "» US Navy War Crimes Trials in Guam". October 2009.
17. "The Gallows and the Deep".

Sources

Information on listed military executions between 1942 and 1961 has been primarily derived from the following sources. Research on these executions continues.

1. A handwritten list, Executed Death Cases Before 1951 Archived 2008-08-08 at the Wayback Machine , discovered at The Pentagon in December 2003. The list is only partially legible and must therefore be used with some caution. The linked public version of this list is quite truncated, thereby omitting a great deal of useful information about these cases. The supplemental addendum, Death Sentence Ledger, tracks military capital cases between 1950 and 1967.
2. Two tables of U.S. Soldiers executed during World War II's European Theater and Pacific Theater may be found on Before the Needle
3. The U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939–1945 (payment required) contains the names of many American servicemen executed by military authority overseas. These people are generally identified in the Rosters as GP (or General Prisoners) and were interred under the category of Administrative Decision.
4. The Nationwide Gravesite Locator Archived 2019-05-17 at the Wayback Machine contains the names of numerous executed soldiers, many of them listed as being General Prisoners.
5. The U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca. 1775–2006 (payment required) contains the names of numerous executed soldiers, many of them listed as being General Prisoners.
6. Historical archives of the Stars and Stripes Newspaper, WWII Europe and North Africa Editions, 1942–1958 (payment required) contain numerous contemporary references to military executions.
7. Death Penalty Cases in WWII Military Courts: Lessons Learned from North Africa and Italy, a paper written by Professor J. Robert Lilly of the School of Law, Northern Kentucky University, and Associate Professor J. Michael Thomson of the Political Science Department Northern Kentucky University, and presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences March 10–13, 2004. Las Vegas, NV, contains statistical information on 97 executions carried out in the European Theatre and the Mediterranean Theatre of World War II. It does not appear to be available online at this time.
8. Taken by Force, by J. Robert Lilly, ( ISBN   0-230-50647-X) published by Palgrave Macmillan in August 2007, discusses crimes of sexual violence committed by American soldiers in the Second World War. It contains numerous references to military capital cases during this period.
9. Official File, Court Martial Cases, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, contains information on sentence confirmation dates of soldiers executed for capital crimes within the continental United States between 1942 and 1945.
10. Official File, Court Martial Cases, Harry Truman Museum and Library, contains information on sentence confirmation dates of soldiers and members of the Air Force executed between 1945 and 1954.
11. History of the JAG Branch Office, U.S. Forces, European Theater, 18 July 1942 to 1 Nov. 1945: n.a., Vol. 1–2, prep. by the Branch Office of the JAG-ETO, n.p ., n.d. (1946?), contains a summary on 70 military executions carried out in the European theater between 1943 and 1945.
12. Ted Darcy Casualty Database
13. Subchapter X, "Punitive Articles" of the Uniform Code of Military Justice