Criminals, Volunteers, and Pardons

[KarlGauss]

Are there any documented cases where condemned prisoners, or those serving life, were offered the chance at a pardon if they volunteered for an ultra-dangerous war mission (a la The Dirty Dozen).

[sub][sup]P.S. Thank God it’s back![/sup][/sub]

[Number]

I just finished reading this book which reveals that not only was there was such a unit, but it was conceived of by the same man who would later create James Bond.

When war came, Fleming began spinning out ideas. Among the more interesting was his plan for a special commando unit that would include tainted, but talented, misfits suitable for “impossible missions” behind enemy lines. Called Assault Unit Number 30, it slipped into France as the country was being overrun by the Germans and retrieved a vital cache of advanced military equipment. The eventual basis for the novel and movie The Dirty Dozen, Assault Unit Number 30 was to perform a number of derring-do missions, including the 1944 capture of an entire German radar station – and its 300-man garrison.

[Boyo_Jim]

Not quite what you’re asking, but:

1. There have been civilians who’ve avoided a prison sentence by enlisting in the military.

2. There have been prisoners who have had their sentences reduced by volunteering as medical guinea pigs.

I believe in the Soviet Army in WWII there were “penal battalions” sent in as first wave attackers. It may be, though I don’t know for sure, that some of these had an option of that or execution. And I also don’t know whether there was any way out of the battalions other than death.

[KarlGauss]

This thread was the 2nd in GQ when the boards came back on-line. With the deluge of threads that followed, it got bumped off the first page in a matter of minutes. So, I’d like to bump it just this once.

And, this site on Assault Unit 30 doesn’t help answer my question.