List of people executed by the United States military

Demographics

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.

During World War I and up to 1919

The United States Army executed 36 soldiers, all of them by hanging, between November 5, 1917, and June 20, 1919, all for rape and/or murder. Of those executed, three were white, 32 were black, and one was Native American. Eleven of these executions were carried out in France while the remaining 25 were carried out in the continental United States.^[6]

Nineteen black soldiers were executed in Texas for roles in the Houston riot of 1917. In 2023, all 19 black soldiers who were executed for their roles in the Houston riot of 1917, along with 91 other black soldiers who were convicted, but not executed, had their convictions set aside by the military on the grounds that their trials had been unfair and were held in a racist atmosphere.^[7]

Executions during the interwar period

Only one confirmed execution was carried out by the United States Army during the interwar period. In 1926, U.S. Army Lieutenant John Sewell Thompson was executed by hanging for the murder of his fiancée. He was the first American officer executed in peacetime, and to date, he is the only graduate of the United States Military Academy to have been executed.^[8]

Executions by the Army during 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^[9] and a further six executions were conducted between September 1946 and December 1948, for a known total of 147.^[10]

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,^[11][12] persons caught engaging in actions of espionage against US forces,^[13][14] or soldiers/civilians convicted by US military courts of having committed crimes against American military personnel, including as occurred at Rüsselsheim, Germany in 1944^[15] and elsewhere.^[16][17][18] 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.^[19][20][21]

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 executed in 1945 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.

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.^[22] 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.^{[23][failed verification]} 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".^[24] 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.^[25]

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.^[26] 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.^[27]