January 31, 1945 The Execution of Pvt. Slovik

When he was little, his neighbors must have thought he was a bad kid.  His first arrest came at age 12, when he and some friends were caught stealing brass from a foundry.  There were other episodes between 1932 and ’37:  petty theft, breaking & entering, and disturbing the peace.  He was sent to prison in 1939, for stealing a car.

Edward Donald “Eddie” Slovik was paroled in 1942, his criminal record rendering him 4F.  “Registrant not acceptable for military service”.  He took a job at the Montella Plumbing & Heating company in Dearborn, Michigan, where he met bookkeeper Antoinette Wisniewski, the woman who would later become his wife.

There the couple may have ridden out WWII, but the war was consuming manpower at a rate unprecedented in history.  Shortly after the couple’s first anniversary, Slovik was re-classified 1A, fit for service, and drafted into the Army.  Arriving…