List of individuals executed by the United States military

The following is a list of individuals executed by the United States military.

Executions by the Army during World War II and postwar

The United States Army carried out 141^[1] executions over a three-year period from 1942-45 and a further six executions were conducted during the postwar period, for a known total of 147.

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 continental 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 1942-48 were performed under the authority of the Articles of War of June 4, 1920, an Act of Congress which governed military justice between 1920-48.

With the exception of Eddie Slovik, who was shot for desertion, all of these soldiers were executed for murder and/or rape. It should be noted that several of the soldiers listed as convicted and executed for murder and/or rape had also been convicted on 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.

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.

These 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.

These hangings at the United States Disciplinary Barracks were carried out in a warehouse elevator shaft which had been converted into a temporary gallows, and the fourteen Germans were subsequently buried in the Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery.^[9]

Executions by the United States 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.

Executions under the 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 5 May 1950. The first four of these executions, those of Bernard J. 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. Hanging and not shooting was the method employed in these ten executions.

Executions by the United States 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.

As of 2018, no member of the Navy has been executed since October 23, 1849, when brothers John and Peter Black were simultaneously hanged at yardarm for leading a mutiny onboard the schooner Ewing. ^[10]

The United States Navy executed fourteen Japanese military personnel by hanging for war crimes on Guam after the Second World War.

Sources

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

1. A handwritten list, Executed Death Cases Before 1951, 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 1950–1967.
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 individuals 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 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 Macmillian 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 1942–1945.
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 1945–1954.
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 1943–1945.
12. Ted Darcy Casualty Database
13. Subchapter X, "Punitive Articles" of the Uniform Code of Military Justice

References