# US Military executioners
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 14, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575 "2018-01-14T00:07:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/1 "2018-01-14T00:07:11Z")
I read a notice that a new book about John C Woods is coming out. He was famous for hanging 10 Nazi war criminals. Reading up on him I note that he executed quite a few US soldiers, anywhere from 60 to 70 and up.
> **[John C. Woods](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Woods)**
>
> John Clarence Woods (June 5, 1911 – July 21, 1950) was a United States Army master sergeant who, with Joseph Malta, carried out the Nuremberg executions of ten former top leaders of the Third Reich on October 16, 1946, after they were sentenced to death at the Nuremberg trials. Time magazine credited him with 347 executions to that date during a 15-year career. According to later research, a number of 60 to 70 over a period of two years is more credible.
> Born in Wichita, Kansas, Woods joined the...
This really surprises me as I have not heard about this many WWII executions. What offenses were they executed for? Here is a list of possible crimes. What is “forcing a safeguard” or “Improper hazarding of vessel”? " Improper use of countersign" - not sure what exactly that is either.
> **[Capital punishment by the United States military](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_the_United_States_military#Executions_during_World_War_II_and_postwar)**
>
> The use of capital punishment by the United States military is a legal penalty in martial criminal justice. Despite its legality, capital punishment has not been imposed by the U.S. military in over sixty years.
> The United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled in 1983 that the military death penalty was unconstitutional, and after new standards intended to rectify the Armed Forces Court of Appeals' objections, the military death penalty was reinstated by an executive order of Presid...
Before Woods took over in 1944, we used a British civilian executioner, another surprise.
Dennis
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### Author:  [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/2 "2018-01-14T01:40:08Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> I read a notice that a new book about John C Woods is coming out. He was famous for hanging 10 Nazi war criminals. Reading up on him I note that he executed quite a few US soldiers, anywhere from 60 to 70 and up.
>
> [John C. Woods - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Woods)
>
> This really surprises me as I have not heard about this many WWII executions. What offenses were they executed for? Here is a list of possible crimes. What is “forcing a safeguard” or “Improper hazarding of vessel”? " Improper use of countersign" - not sure what exactly that is either.
>
> [Capital punishment by the United States military - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_the_United_States_military#Executions_during_World_War_II_and_postwar)
>
> Before Woods took over in 1944, we used a British civilian executioner, another surprise.
>
> Dennis
From the Wikipedia article you linked to:
> [@](#):
>
> The military executed 160 soldiers and other members of the armed forces between 1942-61… Of the total, 106 were executed for murder (including 21 involving rape), 53 for rape and one (Army Pvt. Eddie Slovik in 1945) by firing squad for desertion.[10]
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/3 "2018-01-14T02:24:48Z")
A safeguard is a detachment of troops that’s guarding property belonging to the enemy, to protect it from looting or destruction. Forcing a safeguard is violate the safeguard, and to loot or destroy property protected by a safeguard.
Improper hazarding of vessel is when a military vessel is damaged or destroyed either through negligence or through improper behavior.
A countersign is like a password that sentries use to keep people from going through the lines that shouldn’t. Improper use of countersign means you either tell somebody the countersign who isn’t authorized to have it, or you tell the countersign to somebody who should have it, but you willingly tell them the wrong countersign.
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### Author:  [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/4 "2018-01-14T06:59:55Z")
Not strictly answering the OP’s question, but a fascinating and macabre footnote to it. The cemetery of the “dishonoured dead” :-
> **[Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oise-Aisne_American_Cemetery_Plot_E)**
>
> Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}49°12′01″N 3°33′02″E / 49.20028°N 3.55056°E / 49.20028; 3.55056
> The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E is the fifth plot at the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial, an American military cemetery in northern France that ...
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/5 "2018-01-14T08:09:17Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> Before Woods took over in 1944, we used a British civilian executioner, another surprise.
That was Thomas Pierrepoint. His brother Henry and his nephew Albert were also executioners. A strange thing to have as the family trade, but there you go. Apparently they had the knack of the long drop - the clean neck snap, rather than the slow strangulation or the head popping off.
My dad met Albert P many years ago and found him to be mostly normal.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/6 "2018-01-14T08:17:06Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> That was Thomas Pierrepoint. His brother Henry and his nephew Albert were also executioners.
There was a movie about Thomas Pierrepoint called “Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman”. I don’t know how accurate it is, but it’s worth watching, IMHO.
His brothers weren’t mentioned in the movie, at least not that I recall.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/7 "2018-01-14T09:50:46Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> There was a movie about Thomas Pierrepoint called “Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman”. I don’t know how accurate it is, but it’s worth watching, IMHO.
>
> His brothers weren’t mentioned in the movie, at least not that I recall.
That was a very good film. Timothy Spall was excellent.
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### Author:  [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/8 "2018-01-14T10:50:07Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> There was a movie about Thomas Pierrepoint called “Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman”. I don’t know how accurate it is, but it’s worth watching, IMHO.
>
> His brothers weren’t mentioned in the movie, at least not that I recall.
The film was about Albert, not Thomas. Both executed US prisoners, that being the period when Albert took over from Thomas as senior executioner.
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### Author:  [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/9 "2018-01-14T11:06:57Z")
I recall reading that Pierrepoint was less than impressed with the skills of the US executioners. He was expert in insuring that the prisoner died swiftly, some of the American executioners not so much. Although I must confess that with the Nazi war criminals I feel that the longer they suffered the better.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/10 "2018-01-14T16:30:04Z")
> [@williambaskerville](#):
>
> Not strictly answering the OP’s question, but a fascinating and macabre footnote to it. The cemetery of the “dishonoured dead” :-
>
> [Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oise-Aisne_American_Cemetery_Plot_E)
Fascinating, thanks.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/11 "2018-01-14T20:13:44Z")
> [@WotNot](#):
>
> The film was about Albert, not Thomas. Both executed US prisoners, that being the period when Albert took over from Thomas as senior executioner.
The intensity of the film is reflected in the fact that I also noticed the name error. Holey moley. It’s not something one can easily forget.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/12 "2018-01-14T20:59:34Z")
Emmett Till’s father was one of the people he executed.
> **[Emmett Till's Father Was Also Hanged: A New Book Tells His Story](https://www.npr.org/2016/11/12/501622050/emmett-tills-father-was-also-hanged-a-new-book-tells-his-story)**
>
> A decade before his teenage son was lynched in Mississippi, Louis Till was serving overseas in World War II. Writing to Save a Life explores how Till was convicted of rape and murder and put to death.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2018, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/13 "2018-01-15T03:43:30Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> There was a movie about Thomas Pierrepoint called “Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman”. I don’t know how accurate it is, but it’s worth watching, IMHO.
It was accurate as far as I know. I’d read about the history of the death penalty and most of the incidents in the film I already knew about. For example, he really did hang a [friend and customer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Corbitt)from his pub.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-executioners/806575/14 "2018-01-16T20:08:59Z")
> [@williambaskerville](#):
>
> Not strictly answering the OP’s question, but a fascinating and macabre footnote to it. The cemetery of the “dishonoured dead” :-
>
> [Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oise-Aisne_American_Cemetery_Plot_E)
Also worth a read - note the WWII German POWs now buried there: [Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Leavenworth_Military_Prison_Cemetery)