The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II (58 page)

“a long natural ridge”
Ibid., p. 103.

Nor was he in a German
Ethell and Caldwell,
The Thirty-Eighth United States Infantry
, p. 23. Since recovering from wounds suffered in Normandy and returning to combat, battalion sniper Kviatek had killed seventeen more Germans to reach a total of thirty-eight notches on his Springfield. Kviatek survived the prisoner of war camp and returned to the United States at the end of the war.

TWENTY-NINE

“I was not only pleased”
WD/Second Draft, p. 121.

“those having no salvage”
“History: Disciplinary Training Center Branch, 1 October 1944 to 8 May 1945,” p. 3, NARA, RG 498, Box 154, ETO Historical Division, Administrative File, 1942–Jan. 1946.

“Cruelty or unusual”
Letter, Major General Milton A. Reckord, U.S. Army Theater Provost Marshal, to all provost marshals, RG 498, Box 154, Records of Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army (World War II), Adm 5670 & D PM to 567E Ramps.

“I remember running”
Steve Weiss, interview with the author, the Vosges, France, 30 April 2011.

A Texan Weiss
Ibid.

“Hanging is considered”
“EXECUTION OF DEATH SENTENCES,” 8 July 1943, sent by Adjutant General A. E. O’Leary to the Commanding General, Services of Supply, p. 1. NARA, RG 498, Box 154, ETO Historical Division, Administrative File, 1942–Jan. 1946.

“expressed doubt that”
Judge Advocate File HWH/var, 14 September 1944, Lieutenant Choffel, NARA, RG 498, Box 154, ETO Historical Division, Administrative File, 1942–Jan. 1946.

Classified confidential survey
“OUTGOING CLASSIFIED MESSAGE,” Dated 16 September 1944 at 0102 Hours from Lee to All Base Section Commanders, Reference No. EXO47032, NARA, RG 498, Box 154, ETO Historical Division, Administrative File, 1942–Jan. 1946.

Corporal Eric Klick
“INCOMING CLASSIFIED MESSAGE,” Dated 16 September 1944 at 1733 Hours, from Loire Section, Reference No. LS4093, NARA, RG 498, Box 154, ETO Historical Division, Administrative File, 1942–Jan. 1946.

A simple check
See “Oklahoma Executions,” Complete List of Executions in Oklahoma Between 1841 and 1966, http://web.archive.org/web/20080329184835/users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/OKLAHOMA.htm. See also Texas Department of Criminal Justice, “Electrocutions 1923 to 1973,” http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/prefurman/electrocutions.htm.

“G-1 has promised”
Letter, Major General Milton A. Reckord, U.S. Army Theater Provost Marshal, to General Lord, 28 September 1944, NARA, RG 498, Box 154, ETO Historical Division, Administrative File, 1942–Jan. 1946. Technician third grade was the equivalent pay grade to a staff sergeant.

The War Department’s
War Department Pamphlet 27-4, “Procedure for Military Executions,” War Department, Washington, DC, 12 June 1944.

“of black sateen”
Ibid.

“the lower portion”
Adjutant General A. E. O’Leary to the Commanding General, Services of Supply, ETO, 8 July 1943, p. 3, NARA, RG 498, Box 154, European Theater of Operations, Historical Division, Administrative File, 1942–Jan. 1946.

The medical officer
Emmett Bailey, a white soldier who had witnessed sixteen military executions, informed the author Alice Kaplan that he had not recovered from the experience. “It was the old KKK procedure,” he said. “It was a legal lynch.” See Alice Kaplan,
The Interpreter
, New York: Free Press, 2005, p. 171.

“Every precaution will”
Adjutant General A. E. O’Leary to the Commanding General, Services of Supply, ETO, 8 July 1943, p. 3, NARA, RG 498, Box 154, European Theater of Operations, Historical Division, Administrative File, 1942–Jan. 1946.

“In the event”
Judge Advocate memo, 27 September 1944, “Subject: Execution of Death Sentences,” HWH/Ext 2069, p. 4, NARA, RG 498, Box 19, ETO Judge Advocate Section, Decimal File, 1942–1945, 250.3–250.35.

“Whether it was”
WD/Second Draft, p. 123.

“—all enlisted men”
Branch Office of the Judge Advocate General, Judge Advocate General, “History, Branch Office of the Judge Advocate General with the United States Forces European Theater, 18 July 1942–1 November 1945, Washington, DC, 1946, p. 10, from the files of U.S. Army Legal Services Agency, U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals, 901 North Stuart Street, Arlington, VA 22203-1837.

The bodies of
Kaplan,
The Interpreter
, pp. 169–70. Kaplan wrote (p. 156), “In France, 130 of the 180 men charged with rape and murder were African-Americans; in Europe as a whole, 55 of the 70 men executed for rape and murder were African-Americans. . . . No one, as yet, was willing to venture the obvious: it was patently absurd that 8.5 percent of the armed forces could be responsible for committing 79 percent of all capital crimes.”

“If the next”
War Department Pamphlet 27-4, “Procedure for Military Executions,” p. 6.

“Appropriate information will”
“Procedure for Execution of the Death Sentence on the Continent,” Letter from Brigadier General R. B. Lovett, 14 December 1944, NARA, RG 498, Box 19, ETO Judge Advocate Section, Decimal File, 1942–1945, 250.3–250.35.

“The sentence is”
General Court-Martial, Orders No. 125, 9 November 1944, Private Stephen J. Weiss trial papers, Office of the Clerk of the Court, U.S. Army Judiciary, 901 North Stuart Street, Suite 1200, Arlington, VA, 22203-1837.

“I am writing”
File, Weiss, Stephen J., CM297441.P101.2, Office of the Clerk of the Court, U.S. Army Judiciary, 901 North Stuart Street, Suite 1200, Arlington, VA, 22203-1837.

“The problem of”
Letter, Major General John E. Dahlquist to Lieutenant General Ben Lear, 27 February 1945, NARA, RG 498, Box 5, Records of the Office of the Deputy Theater Commander, General Correspondence, 1945, 210.26–293 (File: 220.26. Reduction of Enlisted Men). General Dahlquist added, “We have about 5,600 veterans of Salerno still in the Division.” This meant that about 10,000 of the original contingent that fought in Italy had either died, been seriously wounded, captured, deserted or otherwise gone missing. This was in addition to the replacements who had been lost.

“I do not agree”
Letter, Major General E. S. Hughes to Lieutenant General Ben Lear, 9 March 1945, ibid.

“I reported to”
WD/Second Draft, pp. 124–25.

At this time
Colonel Julien C. Hyer, Chief, Judge Advocate Section, The General Board, United States Forces, European Theater, et al
.
, “The Military Offender in the Theater of Operations,” Center of Military History, Department of the Army, Washington, DC, 1945, File 250/2, Study No. 84, p. 3.

At the Loire
Ibid., p. 4.

THIRTY

“That was the best”
Whitehead Diary, p. 173.

Whitehead arrived at
“Information from Locator Cards,” Whitehead Court-Martial File.

Steve Weiss resented
Whitehead’s court-martial file contradicts his memoir on this point. The file says he told an examining officer at the time of his arrest that “he was tired of fighting; went to Paris and got drunk.” See “Data for First Clemency Petition,” Whitehead Court-Martial File.

Corley was promoted
Charles B. MacDonald,
The Siegfried Line Campaign
, U.S. Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations, Center of Military History, U.S. Army, Washington, DC, 1993 (originally published 1963), p. 309.

A month before
William Marshall,
Baseball’s Pivotal Era,
1945–1951, Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999, p. 14, and H. Allen Smith and Ira L. Smith,
Three Men on Third
, New York: Doubleday, 1951, p. 141.

In Paris the
Whitehead Diary, p. 177.

In the dreams
The 1930 U.S. Census stated that Uel was three years younger than Alfred Whitehead.

“So we took”
Whitehead Diary, pp. 180–81.

“Of course, no black”
Colonel Julian C. Hyer, Chief, Judge Advocate Section, General Board, United States Forces, European Theater, et al. “Legal Phrases of Civil Affairs and Military Government,” File R/013, Study No. 85, p.10.

Another deserter advised
Whitehead Diary, p. 184.

“we stole more”
Ibid., p. 185.

“In the eleven”
“History: Criminal Investigation Branch, 1 October 1944 to 8 May 1945” (Theater Provost Marshal), NARA, RG 498, Box 154, Adm 567C & D to 507E, Ramps, p. 6.

“Informal G.I. markets”
“Army & Navy: G.I. Black Market,”
Time
, 2 October 1944. See http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,933146,00.html.

The Criminal Investigation
“History: Criminal Investigation Branch, 1 October 1944 to 8 May 1945” (Theater Provost Marshal), NARA, RG 498, Box 154, Adm 567C & D to 507E, Ramps, p. 2.

Al Whitehead prospered
Whitehead Diary, pp. 192–93.

An army telegram
“War Department Messageform,” 13 December 1945, from General Eisenhower to Commanding Officer, 9th Replacement Depot, APO 545, Whitehead Court-Martial File.

On 12 and 13 July
Robertson,
Combat History of the Second Infantry Division in World War II
, pp. 156–57.

Whitehead nonetheless wrote
Whitehead Diary, p. 194.

“During his confinement”
“Informal Routing Slip—HQ 9th Reinforcement Depot,” signed A.R.W., Whitehead Court-Martial File.

The sentry assigned
Whitehead Diary, p. 196.

“Due to the relative”
“Informal Routing Slip—HQ 9th Reinforcement Depot,” signed A.R.W., Whitehead Court-Martial File. Corporal Shumate was not held responsible for “negligence,” as guarding prisoners in different locations was “obviously more than one man could accomplish.”

“I rolled over”
Whitehead Diary, p. 197.

“A search for”
Letter, First Lieutenant John F. Conley to Commanding Officer, 9th Reinforcement Depot, APO 545, U.S. Army, “Subject: Escape of Prisoner from Confinement,” 24 July 1945, in Whitehead Court-Martial File.

lying camouflaged in
Whitehead Diary, p. 198.

THIRTY-ONE

“All the other”
Scannell,
Kings
, p. 213.

“if I stayed”
Scannell,
Tiger
, p. 9.

“I really loathed”
Parkinson interview.

With at least
“Political Notes,”
Times
(London), 22 March 1945, p. 2.

Among the many
“British Family Fined for Help to AWOL Yanks,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 11 July 1946, p. 22. See also “AWOL Tarzan Pair,”
Los Angeles Times
, 27 October 1946, p. 4. This was one case among many in which families who had sheltered deserters, both American and British, received fines. The courts appeared reluctant to impose prison terms.