Murders during the war

A very interesting thread. Would like to know the details for the WAAF murders in WWII.

 

http://www.stephen-stratford.co.uk/ernest_kemp.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWcrime.htm

http://www.real-crime.co.uk/Murder1/doch.htm

Marina

 

The black, hidden graves for the executed mentioned by Kiwi intrigue me, anyone come across any pictures or know what is written on the markers? I can find Slovik's US grave but nothing on the original stones?
Any chance anyone knows which issue of 'After the Battle' they might have cropped up in?

They are discussed at length in William Bradford Huie's 1953 book "The Execution of Private Slovik." He needed permission from Washington to visit those graves.

They are further discussed in an ATB issue, No. 35 or 36, I think, that discusses the whole Slovik case. That plot is not shown on maps of the cemetery, and visitors were not allowed in at the time of that issue.

Slovik's body was sent home and is buried in a family plot in Michigan...but not before it got lost at Detroit Airport, which figures.

My understanding is that the flat black stones only have ASNs, but I'm not sure. There is one cross standing up for the whole section. I once heard that the Battle Monuments Commission exhumed the various coffins and shipped them home, but I'm not sure if that's true.

Anyone living or touring near Oise-Aisne Cemetery can find out. Buried in the plots of honored dead is Joyce Kilmer, author of "Trees."

 

Pretty horrible - not so very different from today. The youths who kicked the man to death and got off lightly rings a bell!
Marina

 

Slovik was the only American shot for desertion since the Civil War, and his case became a celebrated book and TV movie.

Slovik got what he deserved. I read about his actions, both before and during the war. He was a skank and never anything but a burden on society.

 

Just out of interest it was normal procedure for the British Army for those convicted at home of murder for them to be discharged from the army on the morning of their excecution thereby preventing them from receiving a war grave status - however this was not always carried out in every case

Chris

 

I don't like the idea of our 'heroes' acting in this way. It's the type of thing you'd expect to hear from the Nazis but not our brave lads. I suppose if a person is that way inclined though, then just because they put on an allied uniform it doesn't make them a better person all of a sudden. Very sad.

 

Marcus

they are only a reflection of the society that they came from - add to that the pressures of a war & being cut from female company

Chris

 

I found these ...... if you Google both names you'll find quite a bit ... I just posted the not so graphic ones !!

Incidentally years later, flying with Ralph Fisher in BEA it transpired we were club members at the same time. A drinking friend of his at the club was Neville Heath, also ex RAF. One night, walking back to his hotel room Ralph fell and damaged his nose producing a nosebleed. The following day he had to put his jacket and trousers in for dry cleaning. A few days later the police interviewed him concerning a murder, as initially he was a suspect. After another murder, Neville Heath was arrested and found guilty of being a mass murderer of women — the last a WREN in Bournemouth.

BBC - WW2 People's War - MY AIRCREW EXPERIENCES IN THE R.A.F. FROM NOVEMBER 1940 UNTIL APRIL 1946/ continued

And then there was Gordon Frederick Cummins

The Blackout Ripper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Annie

 

I don't like the idea of our 'heroes' acting in this way. It's the type of thing you'd expect to hear from the Nazis but not our brave lads. I suppose if a person is that way inclined though, then just because they put on an allied uniform it doesn't make them a better person all of a sudden. Very sad.


Not too distantly related, but the Kray twins were called up for National Service ( Royal Fusiliers I think ). So it goes to show that all sorts can be in the Army at anytime.

Most recently there was the case of a soldier who served with distinction in the Iraq war but found quilty of a random murder when he was a young lad. So perhaps sometimes the bravery and the dark side of human nature are not too far apart

 

Marcel Petiot, Parisian Serial killer who tried to claim 'resistance work' as a defence:
All about Dr. Marcel Petiot by Michael Newton


Thanks for highlighting this chap, never heard of him before, gruesome