Execution (Pvt. Eddie Slovik) witness pays his respects

Last Updated: November 13. 2010 1:00AM
Execution witness pays his respects
Francis X. Donnelly / The Detroit News

Detroit

Nick Gozik watched more than a hundred people die on the scarred battlefields of World War II. But none affected him like the death of Pvt. Eddie Slovik of Detroit, the only American executed for desertion since the Civil War. Gozik, one of the few remaining witnesses to the 1945 execution, didn't know Slovik but believes the death was unjust, didn't accomplish anything and that the Detroiter's image as a coward is wrong. And so on Friday he fulfilled a wish he had carried for 65 years. He made amends to a fellow soldier.

One day after Veterans Day, a daughter drove the white-haired Gozik from his home outside Pittsburgh to the Detroit cemetery where Slovik is buried. He placed a small American flag on the gravesite. And he wept.

"It's been a long time since I saw you," said Gozik, 90, stabbing the ground several times with his aluminum cane. "But I always remembered you."

-snip-

After all, 40,000 U.S. soldiers deserted during the war, 2,864 were court-martialed and 49 were sentenced to death. Just one was executed.

"He had to pay for the sins of all the people who deserted," said Gozik. "That's the saddest part of it."

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From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20101113/METRO/11130339/Execution-witness-pays-his-respects#ixzz15CZVDY1r

I hope Mr. Gozik gets some closure and comfort from his visit. So sad all around.

ETA: Slovik's last words: "They're not shooting me for deserting the United States Army - thousands of guys have done that. They're shooting me for that brass I stole when I was 12 years old." He was 24.

What a fuck-up that whole situation was. Slovik got separated from his unit and decided he like it that way.

He was willing to take a court martial and a few years in jail - but he had no idea that deliberate desertion meant death penalty. And since desertions like this became common, they decided to make an example of Slovik.

Slovik was buried in a cemetery reserved for executed murderers and rapists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Slovik

i'd never heard of him before

A good article by one of his judges.

http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1987/6/1987_6_97.shtml

Recommended reading.