Widow of last U.S. soldier executed for desertion. Antoinette Wisniewski was born with epilepsy and one leg three inches shorter than the other, which was followed up by infantile paralysis and limited her ability to walk. She worked at Montella Plumbing Company in Dearborn, Michigan. It was there that she met Edward Donald Slovik who had just been paroled from reform school. Despite these handicaps, the couple was determined to marry and did so on November 7, 1942. When Eddie got a job at the old DeSoto plant, they got their own duplex. For the next months they were happy and secure in the belief that ex-convicts would not be drafted but were unaware of the invasion of North Africa. Slovik had been classified 4F because of his prison record, but was reclassifed 1A during a military manpower shortage and received his draft notice shortly after the couple's first wedding anniversary. He was so unhappy that he wrote long letters (376 of them) to her during his 372 days in the Army. Although 21,049 U.S. soldiers were court-martialed for desertion during WWII, Pvt. Slovik has the dubious distinction of being the one and only American soldier ever executed for this crime since the Civil War. His wife was not even informed of his death by the US Army at the time. His last words in front of the firing squad were, "They're not shooting me for deserting the United States Army...thousands of guys have done that. They're shooting me for bread I stole when I was twelve years old." Determined to right what she was certain was a horrible wrong, Antoinette vainly petitioned seven presidents to have her dead husband pardoned. She worked relentlessly to clear his record and to claim his body until her own death on September 7, 1979 in Detroit, where she had been living under an assumed name. In the early 1980s his remains were returned to Michigan and reburied next to her.
Widow of last U.S. soldier executed for desertion. Antoinette Wisniewski was born with epilepsy and one leg three inches shorter than the other, which was followed up by infantile paralysis and limited her ability to walk. She worked at Montella Plumbing Company in Dearborn, Michigan. It was there that she met Edward Donald Slovik who had just been paroled from reform school. Despite these handicaps, the couple was determined to marry and did so on November 7, 1942. When Eddie got a job at the old DeSoto plant, they got their own duplex. For the next months they were happy and secure in the belief that ex-convicts would not be drafted but were unaware of the invasion of North Africa. Slovik had been classified 4F because of his prison record, but was reclassifed 1A during a military manpower shortage and received his draft notice shortly after the couple's first wedding anniversary. He was so unhappy that he wrote long letters (376 of them) to her during his 372 days in the Army. Although 21,049 U.S. soldiers were court-martialed for desertion during WWII, Pvt. Slovik has the dubious distinction of being the one and only American soldier ever executed for this crime since the Civil War. His wife was not even informed of his death by the US Army at the time. His last words in front of the firing squad were, "They're not shooting me for deserting the United States Army...thousands of guys have done that. They're shooting me for bread I stole when I was twelve years old." Determined to right what she was certain was a horrible wrong, Antoinette vainly petitioned seven presidents to have her dead husband pardoned. She worked relentlessly to clear his record and to claim his body until her own death on September 7, 1979 in Detroit, where she had been living under an assumed name. In the early 1980s his remains were returned to Michigan and reburied next to her.
Bio by: Debbie
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