Military Police contains information about military police functions in maneuver and mobility support, area security, law and order, internment/resettlement, and police intelligence operations.
Issue link: https://militarypolice.epubxp.com/i/383260
MILITARY POLICE . 19-14-2 33 By Master Sergeant Patrick V. Garland (Retired) W hile many executioners remain anonymous, there have been several noteworthy ones. For example, Master Sergeant John C. Woods conducted many of the hangings in Europe (including those of Nazi war criminals) during and after World War II. And Lieutenant Charles Rexroad performed most of the Pacifc Theater hangings (including those of Japanese war criminals). Both of these men had several assistants. In addition, Soldiers from military police security units at various prisons served on fring squads at disciplinary training centers in Europe; and on occasion, the commanders of the disciplinary training centers—namely Major Mortimer Christian (Seine Disciplinary Training Center, Paris, France), and Lieutenant Colonel Henry L. Peck (Loire Disciplinary Training Center, Le Mans, France)—actually performed hangman duties. Contract hangmen were even hired to perform executions in England, Australia, and New Guinea. The presence of a chaplain—who is designated by the commandant of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) or provided at the request of the prisoner—is authorized at executions. 1 As far back as the Revolutionary War, capital punishment has been the most severe form of punishment that could be administered by a court-martial. Even then, strict safeguards were established to prevent the abuse of power by the courts. All death warrants were required to be signed by General George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army. He signed the frst of these warrants on 28 June 1776; the after-order states: belonging to the Generals Guard, having been convicted by a general court whereof [Colonel] Parsons was president, of the a treacherous correspondence with the for the horrid and detestable purposes,' is sentenced to suffer death. The general approves the sentence, and . . . All the offcers and off duty belonging to [General] Heath's, Spencer's, Lord Stirling's and General Scott's brigades to be under on their respective parades, at ten to the ground between [General] Spencer's and Lord Stirling's to attend the execution of the above sentence. The necessary preparations and to attend on that duty the provost as a guard on the prisoner to, and at the place of, execution. 2 Later, all death warrants were required to be approved by the President, and the provost marshal was tasked with administering the punishment. The methods used for execution were hanging and musketry. Captain William Marony, the frst provost marshal, deserted in order to avoid executing a prisoner; and another, Captain William Hutton, was court-martialed for allowing a condemned man to escape. 3 The estimated number of executions carried out by the Continental Army ranges from 40 to 100. During the War of 1812, executions (usually by fring squads consisting of line troops), were reserved mainly for deserters—especially repeat offenders or bounty jumpers (men who enlisted only to receive the bounty and then deserted so that they could enlist for another bounty elsewhere). According to John S. Hare's article entitled "Military Punishments in the War of 1812," 205 executions were carried out from 1812 to 1815, with three-fourths of those taking place in 1814, when the Army became much larger and military offcials were determined to crack down on desertion. 4 Reprieves were sometimes granted; and occasionally, that information was not relayed to the condemned man until all the formalities of a regular execution had been followed up to the point of the command to fre, which was then withheld and the reprieve read. Notifying the prisoner of his reprieve in this manner was apparently designed to bring home the seriousness of his offense. A chaplain who was called upon to witness an execution related his experience in detail. He states, "Prompted by feelings of pity, I called . . . to see him in prison. There, chained by the leg to the beam of the guardhouse, he was reading the Bible, trying to prepare himself, as he said,