Description: (Military personnel, Soldier)
Edward Donald Slovik, a United States Army soldier during World War II, was the only American soldier to be court-martialed and executed for desertion since the American Civil War. Out of over 21,000 soldiers convicted of desertion during the war, Slovik's case was the sole instance where the death sentence was enforced. This marked a rare occurrence of the death penalty being applied for a "purely military" offense during that period.