List of people executed by the United States military

The following is a list of people known to have been executed by the United States military since 1942. For a broader discussion, including earlier application of the death penalty under military law, see: Capital punishment by the United States military.

This 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	Crime	Victim(s)	President
1	Bernard John O'Brien	White	34	M	July 31, 1954	Bad Aibling, Bavaria, West Germany	Hanging	Premeditated murder	Dorothy Lucia O'Brien, 35, white (wife)	Dwight D. Eisenhower
2	Chastine Beverly	Black	25	M	March 1, 1955	Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, United States			Harry Amos Langley, 52, white
3	Louis M. Suttles		26	M
4	James L. Riggins		28	M
5	Thomas J. Edwards		23	M	February 14, 1957	West Germany			Marian Stowasser, white
6	Winfred D. Moore		23	M		Fort Bragg, North Carolina, United States			Charles Pettit, 26, white
7	Ernest L. Ransom		26	M	April 3, 1957	Incheon, SCA, Korea		Premeditated murder and rape	Chae Seung Man (murdered) and unnamed female, 14 (raped), Korean
8	Abraham Thomas		29	M	July 23, 1958	Gersthofen, Bavaria, West Germany		Premeditated murder (4 specifications)	4 victims [a]
9	John E. Day Jr.		30	M	September 23, 1959	Seoul, SCA, Korea		Premeditated murder	Lee Mak Chun, Korean [b]
10	John Arthur Bennett		25	M	April 13, 1961	Siezenheim, Salzburg, Austria		Rape [c]	Gertrude, 11, white	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 Adrin 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 Baily 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 up to 1948

The United States Army carried out 141 known executions over a three-year period from 1942 to January 1946 ^[6] and a further six executions were conducted between September 1946 and December 1948, for a known total of 147. ^[7]

These figures encompass US military personnel convicted of various offences and do not include individuals executed by the US Army after being convicted by US military courts for violations of the laws of war, including about 18 German soldiers who were shot after being caught in American uniform as part of Operation Greif during the Battle of the Bulge, ^{[8] [9]} persons caught engaging in actions of espionage against US forces, ^{[10] [11]} or soldiers/civilians convicted by US military courts of having committed crimes against American military personnel, including as occurred at Rüsselsheim, Germany in 1944 ^[12] and elsewhere. ^{[13] [14] [15]} Evidence suggests that other persons, both American military personnel or enemy combatants/civilians, may have been executed during the Second World War or during the occupation of Germany/Japan pursuant to verdicts by American military tribunals or decisions taken by senior commanders. ^{[16] [17] [18]}

Of the 141 known wartime executions of U.S. soldiers by the U.S. Armed Forces, 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. Another execution was 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. This list does not include the executions of American military personnel who were tried under any jurisdiction other than the U.S. Armed Forces. For example, Karl Hulten, an AWOL U.S. Army soldier who was hanged for the Cleft chin murder, was tried by a British civilian court since he had committed the crime with a British accomplice

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	Race	Age	Date of execution	Location	Method	Crime	Victim(s)	President
James Rowe	Black	36	November 6, 1942	Fort Huachuca, Arizona	Hanging	Premeditated murder	Joseph Shields, 21, black	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Edward Joseph Leonski	White	24	November 9, 1942	Pentridge Prison, Melbourne, Australia, Southwest Pacific Area		Premeditated murder (3 specifications)	Three people, white [d]
Jerry Sykes	Black	26	January 19, 1943	Fort Huachuca, Arizona		Premeditated murder	Hazel Lee Craig, 26, black
David Cobb		21	March 12, 1943	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater			Robert James Cobner, 25, white
George Schubert Knapp	White	38	March 19, 1943	Bastrop, Texas		Premeditated murder and rape	Lucy Rivers Maynard. 8, white
Francis Albert Line		27	March 26, 1943	Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona		Rape	Eunice Howard, 12, white [e]
Harold Adolphus Smith		20	June 25, 1943	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater		Premeditated murder	Harry Mosby Jenkins, 25, white
James E. Kendrick		21	July 17, 1943	Oran, Algeria, North African Theater of Operations		Premeditated murder and rape	Carmen Nunez, 10, white
Levi Brandon	Black	23	July 26, 1943	Fort Leavenworth, Kansas		Rape	Mary Elizabeth Ruiz, 17, white
Walter J. Bohn	White	26	August 6, 1943	Camp Claiborne, Louisiana			Esther E. Ruttkay, 26, white
Willie A. Pittman	Black	25	August 30, 1943	Sicily, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II			Giovianana Incatasciato Morana, white
Harvey Stroud		22
Armstead White		29
David White		24
Charles H. Smith	White	33	September 6, 1943	Algiers, North African Theater of Operations		Premeditated murder	William Lynn Tackett, 21, white
Lee Andrew Davis	Black	20	December 14, 1943	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater		Premeditated murder and rape	June Lay (murdered), 19, and Muriel Joyce Rosalie Fawden (raped), 22, white
Edwin P. Jones	White	23	January 5, 1944	Oran, Algeria, North African Theater of Operations		Premeditated murder	Alfred Edwin Raby, 28, white
John H. Waters		38	February 10, 1944	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater			Doris May Staples, 35, white
John C. Leatherberry	Black	22	March 16, 1944				Harry Claude Hailstone, 28, white
Charles E. Spears		33	April 18, 1944	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre			David Quick, 35, Hispanic
Wiley Harris Jr.		25	May 26, 1944	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater			Henry "Harry" Coogan, white
Alex Flores Miranda	Hispanic	20	May 30, 1944		Firing squad		Thomas Evison, 43, white
Robert L. Donnelly	White	19	May 31, 1944	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre	Hanging	Premeditated murder and desertion	John P. Brown Jr., 28, white
Eliga Brinson	Black	25	August 11, 1944	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater		Rape	Dorothy Holmes, 16, white
Willie Smith		22
Clarence Whitfield		20	August 14, 1944	Normandy, France, European Theater			Aniela Skrzyniarz, white [f]
Ray Watson		24	August 29, 1944	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre		Premeditated murder	John Henry Brockman, 22, white
James W. Peoples			September 2, 1944	New Guinea Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area			Alonzo D. McIntyre, black
Harry Bever	White	28	September 26, 1944	Fort Sill, Oklahoma			Clinton C. Wood, 44, white
Arthur T. Brown	Black	20	October 2, 1944	New Guinea Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area		Rape and mutiny	Ruth Reissinger Irvine, 25, white [g]
Andrew Gibson
Leroy E. Greene
Charles A. Horn		20
Eugene A. Washington Jr.		21
Lloyd L. White Jr.						Rape and lifting up a weapon against a superior officer
Madison Thomas		23	October 12, 1944	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater		Rape	Beatrice Maud Reynolds, 59, white
Roy W. Anderson		27	October 25, 1944	Seine Disciplinary Training Center, Paris, France, European Theater		Rape (2 specifications)	Jeanne Martin and Louise Bocage, 28 and 26, white
James Buck Sanders		27
Paul Mauritz Kluxdal	White	37	October 31, 1944			Premeditated murder	Loyce M. Robertson, 26, white
Joseph Watson	Black	26	November 9, 1944			Rape	Marie Josef Gourdin, 33, white
Willie Wimberly Jr.		32
Avelino Fernandez	Hispanic	30	November 15, 1944	New Guinea Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area		Premeditated murder	Doris May Roberts, 34, white/aboriginal
Curtis L. Maxey	Black	21	November 16, 1944	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre		Rape	Lucy Collomp, 22, white
William Drew Pennyfeather		24	November 18, 1944	Fort du Roule, Cherbourg, France, European Theater			Julia Herbaut, white
Richard Bunney Scott		28					Marie Dupont, white (pregnant)
Theron Watts McGann	White	23	November 20, 1944	Saint-Lô, Manche, France, European Theater			Yvonne Emilienne Eugenia Vaudevire, 39, white
Arthur Eddie Davis	Black	25	November 22, 1944	Montours, Ille-et-Vilaine, France, European Theater			Aimée Hellondais Honore, 37, white
Charles H. Jordan		24
James E. Hendricks		21	November 24, 1944	Normandy, France, European Theater		Premeditated murder	Victor Bignon, white [h]
Benjamin Pygate		35	November 28, 1944	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater	Firing squad		James Edward Alexander, 19, black
Oscar Neil Newman	White	26	November 29, 1944	Beaunay, Marne, France, European Theater	Hanging	Rape	Raymonde Dehu, 17, white
Leo Valentine Sr.	Black	20
Charlie B. Williams		26	December 18, 1944	Army Air Forces Tactical Center, Orlando, Florida		Premeditated murder (2 specifications)	Howard J. Robertson and William Robinson, 20, black
William E. Davis		29	December 27, 1944	Guiclan, Finistère, France, European Theater		Premeditated murder	Marie Françoise Pouliquen, 23, white [i]
Sylvester Davis		25	January 5, 1945	Randolph Air Force Base, Texas			Peggy Lou Arnold, 20, white
Augustine M. Guerra	Hispanic	20	January 8, 1945	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater		Premeditated murder and rape	Betty Dorian Pearl Green, 15, white
Ernest L. Clark	White	24
John David Cooper	Black	22	January 9, 1945	Lérouville, Meuse, France, European Theater		Rape (4 specifications)	Four people, white [j]
John J. O'Connor	White	20	January 15, 1945	Fort Benning, Georgia		Premeditated murder	Richard N. Campbell, 18, white
Walter James Baldwin	Black	22	January 17, 1945	Beaufay, Sarthe, France, European Theater			Adolphe Paul Drouin, 47, white
Arthur J. Farrell	White	38	January 19, 1945	Saint-Sulpice-des-Landes, Ille-et-Vilaine, France, European Theater		Rape	Lucie Hualle, 57, white
James W. Twiggs	Black	25	January 22, 1945	Loire Disciplinary Training Center, Le Mans, France, European Theater		Premeditated murder	William D. Adams, 30, black
Samuel Hawthorne			January 29, 1945	New Guinea Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area		Premeditated murder (2 specifications)	Herman Cecil Zwang and Peter Astranis, 27 and 30, white
Mervin Holden		24	January 30, 1945	Citadel of Namur, Namur, Belgium		Rape	Henriette Tillieu Ep Deremince, 51, white
Elwood J. Spencer		20
Eddie Slovik	White	24	January 31, 1945	Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France, European Theater	Firing squad	Desertion [k]	N/A
J.P. Wilson	Black	27	February 2, 1945	Lérouville, Meuse, France, European Theater	Hanging	Rape (4 specifications)	Four people, white [l]
Robert L. Skinner		20	February 10, 1945	Bricquebec, Manche, France, European Theater		Rape	Marie Osouf, 19, white
Waiters Yancy		21				Premeditated murder and rape	Clement Lebarillier (murdered) and Marie Osouf (raped), both 19, white
William Mack		34	February 15, 1945	Plabennec, Finistère, France, European Theater		Premeditated murder	Eugene Tournellec, 47, white
Otis Bell Crews		27	February 21, 1945	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre			Wilbur Lee Bryant, 19, white
Williams Clifton Downes		30	February 28, 1945	Étienville, Manche, France, European Theater		Rape (3 specifications)	Three people, white [m]
Amos Agee		29	March 3, 1945	La Saussaye , Orne, France, European Theater		Rape	Alexina Vingtier, 24, white
John C. Smith		27
Frank Watson		21
Olin W. Williams		23	March 9, 1945	Le Héron, Seine-Maritime, France, European Theater		Premeditated murder and rape	Albert Lebocey (murdered) and Germaine Lebocey (raped), 45 and 44, white
Lee A. Burns		31	March 11, 1945	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre		Rape	Carla Sabatini, 14, white
General Lee Grant		23				Premeditated murder	Carlo Franceschi, white
Herman Perry		22	March 15, 1945	Ledo, Assam, India		Premeditated murder and desertion	Harold Cady, 28, white
Robert L. Pearson		21	March 17, 1945	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater		Rape	Joyce Broome, 26, white (pregnant)
Cubia Jones		25
Henry Baker			March 18, 1945	Leyte, Philippines			Maria Tabao Bautista, Filipino
John H. Mack		34	March 20, 1945	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre		Premeditated murder (3 specifications)	Three people, white [n]
John W. Taylor		26				Premeditated murder	Earl Johnson, 44, black
Kinney Bruce Jones		31					Milton M. Winstead, 19, black
Robert A. Pearson		29		Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands			Frederick D. Johnson, 29, black
Abraham Smalls		34	March 27, 1945	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre			George W. Jones, 21, white
Tommie Davison		30	March 29, 1945	Manche, France, European Theater		Rape	Madeleine Quellier, white
William Harrison Jr.	White	22	April 7, 1945	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater		Premeditated murder and rape	Patricia Wylie, 7, white
Benjamin F. Hopper	Black	24	April 11, 1945	Loire Disciplinary Training Center, Le Mans, France, European Theater		Premeditated murder	Randolph Jackson Jr., 19, black
Dan Boswell		27	April 16, 1945	Camp Bowie, Texas			Otis Wilson, 26, black	Harry S. Truman
Curn L. Jones		24	April 18, 1945	Fort Benning, Georgia			Dooley Edwin Parnell, 36, black
Milbert Bailey		30	April 19, 1945	La Pernelle, Normandy, France, European Theater		Premeditated murder and rape	Auguste Lefèbvre (murdered) and Marguerite Lefèbvre (raped), 52 and 19, white
James L. Jones		32
John Williams		28
William T. Curry			April 20, 1945	New Guinea Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area		Premeditated murder	Robert J. Harris, black
Shelton McGhee Sr.		28	May 4, 1945	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre			George W. Brown, 24, black
George Edward Smith Jr.	White	28	May 8, 1945	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater			Eric Teichman, 60, white
George Green Jr.	Black	21	May 15, 1945	Loire Disciplinary Training Center, Le Mans, France, European Theater			Tommie Lee Garrett, 20, black
Haze Heard		22	May 21, 1945	Mesnil-Clinchamps, Calvados, France, European Theater			Berthe Robert, white
William J. McCarter		38	May 28, 1945	Loire Disciplinary Training Center, Le Mans, France, European Theater			Charles P. Williams, black
Clete Oscar Norris		27	May 31, 1945				William E. McDonald, 26, white
Alvin R. Rollins		20				Premeditated murder (2 specifications)	John H.W. Hoogewind and Royce Arthur Judd Jr., 32 and 22, white
Matthew Clay Jr.		24	June 4, 1945	Fontenay-sur-Mer, Manche, France, European Theater		Premeditated murder	Victor Bellery, 42, white
Werner E. Schmiedel	White	26	June 11, 1945	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre			Eolo Ferretti, 44, white
Aniceto Martinez	Hispanic	23	June 15, 1945	Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater		Rape	Agnes Cope, 75, white
Victor Ortiz		31	June 21, 1945	Loire Disciplinary Training Center, Le Mans, France, European Theater		Premeditated murder	Ignacio Bonit, 32, Hispanic
Willie Johnson	Black	23	June 26, 1945	La Haye-Pesnel, Normandy, France, European Theater		Premeditated murder and rape	Julienne Fontaine, 32, white
Fred Alex McMurray		25	July 2, 1945	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre		Premeditated murder and rape (2 specifications)	Three people, white [o]
Louis Till		23
Charles H. Jefferies		21	July 5, 1945			Premeditated murder	Alfredo Bechelli, white
John T. Jones		32				Rape	Ireni Rossi Martini, white
Henry W. Nelson		21
Tom E. Gordon		30	July 10, 1945	Loire Disciplinary Training Center, Le Mans, France, European Theater		Premeditated murder	Laurence Broussard, 24, black
Harold Crabtree	White	26	July 31, 1945	Luzon, Philippines	Firing squad		Gene Culver Musson, 21, white
Jesse D. Boston	Black	35	August 1, 1945	Schofield Barracks, Hawai'i			Shizue Saito, 35, Japanese
Cornelius Thomas		23			Hanging		Francis Timothy Silva
Robert Davidson		28	August 6, 1945	Camp Gordon Johnston, Florida	Firing squad		Melvin McClellon, 33, black
Ernest J. Harris			August 9, 1945	Luzon, Philippines	Hanging		Phillip Taylor, 21, black
Lee R. Davis		20	August 14, 1945	Fort Sill, Oklahoma		Rape (2 speicifications)	Gertrude Catherine Mayeux, 22, white [p]
Herbert W. Reid		21		Camp Beale, California		Rape	Betty Ann Roper, 15, white
Clinton Stevenson		30				Premeditated murder	King David Blanshaw Jr., 28, black
Ellis McCloud Jr.		27	August 20, 1945	Luzon, Philippines			Jack C. McLain, 26, white
Robert Wray		24		Loire Disciplinary Training Center, Le Mans, France, European Theater			Billy Basil Betts, 27, white
Edward J. Reichl	White	39	August 22, 1945	United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas			Adam Buchholz, 24, white
Harvey W. Nichols	Black		August 28, 1945	Luzon, Philippines			Martina Cervantes, 12, Filipino
Albert Williams						Rape	Pacita Laluan Munar, 20, Filipino
Bradley Walters Jr.			August 31, 1945			Premeditated murder	Leroy Maynard 21, white
Henry Clay Philpot	Native American	28	September 10, 1945	Loire Disciplinary Training Center, Le Mans, France			John Bernard Platt, 28, white
Clarence D. Gibson	Black	24	September 18, 1945	Lake Charles Air Force Station, Louisiana	Firing squad	Premeditated murder and desertion	Ralph S. Heimbach, 22, white
Fred Hurse		28	September 20, 1945	Camp Bowie, Texas	Hanging	Premeditated murder	Eugene Pinckney, black
James C. Thomas			September 25, 1945	Luzon, Philippines			James Harvey Clarke Jr., 25, white
Charles M. Robinson		22	September 28, 1945	Loire Disciplinary Training Center, Le Mans, France, European Theater			Yvonne Louise Le Ny, 35, white
Blake W. Mariano	Native American	29	October 10, 1945			Premeditated murder and rape	Märta Jenny Sofia Gary (murdered) and Babette Kuhndorfer (raped), 41 and 21, white [q]
Sidney Bennerman	Black	25	October 15, 1945	Les Milles, Aix-en-Provence, France, European Theater	Firing squad	Premeditated murder (2 specifications) and rape	Ulita Obichwist and Peter Lobacz, white
Woodrow Parker		27
Ozell Louis				Luzon, Philippines	Hanging	Premeditated murder	Lanardo Edradan, Filipino
Charlie Ervin Jr.		26	October 19, 1945	Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre	Firing squad	Premeditated murder (2 specifications) and rape	Three people, white [r]
Mansfield Spinks		20
Dan J. Lee		37	November 9, 1945	Luzon, Philippines		Premeditated murder	Julian Esperanza, 58, Filipino
Ellsworth Williams		23	January 5, 1946	Mannheim Military Prison, Germany, European Theater	Hanging		Eddie Lee May, 26, black
Solomon Thompson		25	September 11, 1946	European Theater			Cloyd A. Smith, 29, black
Garlon Mickles		23	April 22, 1947	Schofield Barracks, Hawai'i		Rape	Frances Gitnick, white
James Norman		24/25	April 25, 1947	Luzon, Philippines		Premeditated murder	Melitona Rarela, Filipino
William Abney		37	December 1, 1947	Mandaluyong, Philippines			Nevaina Mills, 24, black
Manuel Martinez	Hispanic	22	April 23, 1948	Landsberg Prison, Germany, European Theater			Henri Géliot, white
Stratman Armistead	Black	33	December 16, 1948	Nakano, Japan, Far East Command		Premeditated murder (4 specifications)	Four people, Japanese [s]

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. ^[19] 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. ^[20] 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". ^[21] 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. ^[22]

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. ^[23] 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 premeditated murders of fellow German prisoners 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. ^[24]

Name	Age	Race	Date of execution	Crime	Victim(s)	President
Walter Beyer	32	White	July 10, 1945	Premeditated murder	Johannes Kunze, 39, white	Harry S. Truman
Hans Demme	23
Hans Schomer	27
Willie Scholz	22
Berthold Seidel	30
Erich Gauss	32		July 14, 1945		Horst Günther, 23, white
Rudolph Straub	39
Helmut Fischer	22		August 25, 1945		Werner Drechsler, 22, white
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 Robert Wesley Burns and Herman Perry Dennis Jr. were carried out under a short-lived revised version of the Articles of War popularly known as the Elston Act of 1948. ^[25]

Name	Age	Race	Date of execution	Location	Crime	Victim(s)	President
Robert E. Keller	21	White	March 11, 1950	Nakano, Japan	Premeditated murder	Paul T. Wilburn, 19, white	Harry S. Truman
Robert Wesley Burns	37	Black	January 28, 1954	Guam	Premeditated murder and rape	Ruth Farnsworth, 27, white	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Herman Perry Dennis Jr.	25

Executions by the Navy

The United States Navy has executed seventeen sailors and Marines for various offenses. The most famous of these executions were those of three crew members of the USS Somers who were hanged for conspiracy to mutiny in 1842. ^[26]

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. ^[27]

The United States Navy hanged 14 Japanese soldiers/sailors for war crimes committed on Guam, Wake Island or elsewhere in the Pacific theatre during World War II. ^[28]

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 is 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. ^{[29] [30]}

See also

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

Notes

1. The victims were Walburga Wenderoth and Anna Wiegel, white, and Corporal Edward Peters and Sergeant Bennett, black.
2. Day also raped the victim's wife and murdered their infant daughter, but was not tried for these crimes.
3. Also convicted of the attempted murder of the victim.
4. Ivy Violet McLeod, 40, Pauline Thompson, 30, and Gladys Hosking, 40.
5. Previously raped a 14-year-old girl in Utah in 1942, but received a suspended sentence and was allowed to return to the Army after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of carnal knowledge. Also confessed to raping a 13-year-old girl in Utah two weeks earlier and murdering a man in Arizona in 1937.
6. Also convicted of the attempted rape of Skrzyniarz's sister, Zofia Skrzyniarz.
7. Also convicted of the attempted gang rape of Marie Weaver (22, white).
8. Also convicted of the attempted rape of Victor's wife, Noémie Bignon.
9. Also convicted of the attempted rape of the victim.
10. Lucienne Barry, 40, Germaine Pivel, 18, Christiane Pivel, 14, and Mireille Weber, 14.
11. Prior to his court-martial, Slovik was given multiple chances to rejoin his unit and destroy his written confession without facing any consequences, but refused. He also declined to present any mitigation when given the opportunity.
12. Lucienne Barry, 40, Germaine Pivel, 18, Christiane Pivel, 14, and Mireille Weber, 14.
13. Marie Lepoittevin, 62, Louise Lagouche, 15, and Louis Leveziel.
14. Ettore Lombardi, his wife Palmira Lombardi, and their daughter Carmela Lombardi.
15. Anna Zanchi (murdered), Benni Lucretzia (raped), and Freida Mari (raped). Lucretzia and Mari were both pregnant. Lucretzia had a miscarriage the day after the attack.
16. Also convicted of the attempted rape of Rosa Chevalier (61, white)
17. Also convicted of the attempted rape of Elfriede Weissbarth (54, white).
18. Arnolfo Carresi (murdered), Maria Carresi (raped), and Pietro Testini (murdered).
19. Haru Fujisawa, 36, Kenji Haneishi, 49, Yasuhiko Haneishi, 9, and Masae Yamamoto, 8.

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, Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, 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. Hollway, Don (November 2014). "Operation Greif and Otto "Scarface" Skorzeny". Warfare History Network. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
9. "German commandos captured in American uniform are prepared for execution, 1944 - Rare Historical Photos". 27 January 2017.
10. "The Execution Of The Teenage Hitler Youth Spies". The Untold Past. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
11. "Execution of Spies by Firing Squad". British Pathe. Retrieved 21 August 2025.
12. Dougherty, Kevin (25 August 2004). "Memorial honors victims of WWII mob". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
13. "US Last Execution by Firing Squad of Curt Bruns & Anton Dostler German brutal killing US troops WW2". The Past Quest. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
14. Borch, Fred (2 May 2018). "Justice by Firing Squad". History.Net.
15. "Hauptmann Curt Bruns (Trial Data) (106-ID Related)". European Center of Military History. 2022.
16. Biddiscombe, Perry (September 2003). "Attacks on American Troops in Postwar Germany" (PDF). www.esd.whs.mil.
17. "Historic Military Executions". Death Penalty Information Center.
18. Harland-Dunaway, Chris (July 28, 2018), "Take no prisoners: Inside a WWII American war crime", revealnews.org, Center for Investigative Reporting, archived from the original on February 9, 2019, retrieved July 30, 2018
19. American Battle Monuments Commission: Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Official Website, As of June 22, 2009
20. "Bing Maps – Driving Directions, Traffic and Road Conditions". Binged.it. 2015-03-04. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
21. Kaplan, Alice. The Interpreter. Free Press: New York, 2005. 172–3.
22. Huie, William Bradford.The Execution of Private Slovik. Westholme: Yardley, 1954. 4–7.
23. Huie, William Bradford. "The Execution of Private Slovik". Westholme Publishing, 2004. ISBN   1-59416-003-1
24. Fort Leavenworth Military Prison cemetery
25. "Two Negro GIs Hanged for Rape: Plead Innocence on Scaffold". Jet Magazine. 11 February 1954.
26. Quarstein, John V. (15 December 2022). "Mutiny at Sea: Death and Destruction on USS Somers". The Mariners' Museum and Park.
27. Details of the mutiny
28. "» US Navy War Crimes Trials in Guam". October 2009.
29. "The Gallows and the Deep".
30. "The only criminal executed by the Coast Guard was a Prohibition-era rum runner". Yahoo News. 10 August 2024.

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