Hiring a hangman for Occupied Germany - 1944 - 1947
Apr 13, 2016 15:31:45 #
General Milton Rekord was the official Provost Marshal of the European Theater of Operations (ETO) in 1944. He was responsible for hanging American soldiers convicted of murder and rape in Europe, but he had a problem after D-Day.
He didn't have a hangman.
Before D-Day, while the Allied forces built up in the U.K., Rekord dealt with 16 death sentences by hiring a British hangman, a pub owner named Albert Pierrepoint. But Pierrepoint was not authorized to leave the U.K. in 1944.
The Provost Marshal's staff initiated a hangman recruitment meeting with GIs of the 37th Engineer Combat Battalion in France. Why the engineers? They built the scaffolds.
One man, 33-year-old private John Woods, saw an opportunity. When the PM people asked if anybody had experience with hangings, Woods claimed he had participated in two, in Oklahoma and Texas. He wasn't asked if they were legal, and he didn't say.
He was instantly accepted, since nobody else was interested. Then a surprise. This 5-ft. 4-in. draftee, who never finished high school, was promoted six grades, from private to master sergeant, on the spot!
A day later he was transferred to the Seine Disciplinary Training Center in Paris. Within two months, he had assisted in three hangings under the tutelage of Major Mortimer Christian.
If the Provost Marshal had bothered to check on Woods, he would have discovered that he enlisted in the Navy in 1929, went AWOL from an aircraft carrier, and was discharged as "poor service material" following a diagnosis of "constitutional psychopathic inferiority without psychosis."
But General Rekord didn't care, because Woods' Army record was fine. On D-Day, Woods was in a combat engineering company that invaded Omaha Beach, losing four KIA, 15 WIA, and three MIA in the first day. He had steady nerves, needed for the hangman job that nobody else wanted.
Woods reportedly botched at least a third of his hangings in 1945 and 1946, causing prolonged strangulation instead of instant death. In at least a few cases, his "botching' might have been deliberate, especially with the Nazi war criminals. Woods was Jewish.
TIME magazine claimed he conducted 347 hangings -- U.S. servicemen as well as Germans -- during his Army career.
The GIs had all been convicted of horrible specific crimes. The Nazis -- both military and civilians -- were not. Instead, they were found guilty of "participating in a common design" to kill, beat, torture and/or starve thousands of men, women and children. Administrators and guards were equally guilty.
There is evidence that Woods enjoyed his new profession. His most famous assignment was the hanging of the ten top Nazis in Nuremberg on October 16, 1946. "Ten men in 103 minutes," Woods reportedly said later. "That's fast work."
At the time, Woods was training his replacement, a 29-year-old MP named Joseph Malta, who went on to hang 60 Nazi government and military criminals.
But the psychological strain finally drove Woods to excessive drinking and paranoia. Malta took over and Woods returned to his old engineers outfit.
Woods died in July 1950 while serving in the Pacific with the 7th Engineering Brigade on Eniwetok, in the Marshall Islands. He was accidentally electrocuted while working on a high tension power line. He was 39 years old, married with no children.
Among his awards were two campaign medals and the Army of Occupation Medal with "Germany" clasp.
There is no specific medal for hangmen.
He didn't have a hangman.
Before D-Day, while the Allied forces built up in the U.K., Rekord dealt with 16 death sentences by hiring a British hangman, a pub owner named Albert Pierrepoint. But Pierrepoint was not authorized to leave the U.K. in 1944.
The Provost Marshal's staff initiated a hangman recruitment meeting with GIs of the 37th Engineer Combat Battalion in France. Why the engineers? They built the scaffolds.
One man, 33-year-old private John Woods, saw an opportunity. When the PM people asked if anybody had experience with hangings, Woods claimed he had participated in two, in Oklahoma and Texas. He wasn't asked if they were legal, and he didn't say.
He was instantly accepted, since nobody else was interested. Then a surprise. This 5-ft. 4-in. draftee, who never finished high school, was promoted six grades, from private to master sergeant, on the spot!
A day later he was transferred to the Seine Disciplinary Training Center in Paris. Within two months, he had assisted in three hangings under the tutelage of Major Mortimer Christian.
If the Provost Marshal had bothered to check on Woods, he would have discovered that he enlisted in the Navy in 1929, went AWOL from an aircraft carrier, and was discharged as "poor service material" following a diagnosis of "constitutional psychopathic inferiority without psychosis."
But General Rekord didn't care, because Woods' Army record was fine. On D-Day, Woods was in a combat engineering company that invaded Omaha Beach, losing four KIA, 15 WIA, and three MIA in the first day. He had steady nerves, needed for the hangman job that nobody else wanted.
Woods reportedly botched at least a third of his hangings in 1945 and 1946, causing prolonged strangulation instead of instant death. In at least a few cases, his "botching' might have been deliberate, especially with the Nazi war criminals. Woods was Jewish.
TIME magazine claimed he conducted 347 hangings -- U.S. servicemen as well as Germans -- during his Army career.
The GIs had all been convicted of horrible specific crimes. The Nazis -- both military and civilians -- were not. Instead, they were found guilty of "participating in a common design" to kill, beat, torture and/or starve thousands of men, women and children. Administrators and guards were equally guilty.
There is evidence that Woods enjoyed his new profession. His most famous assignment was the hanging of the ten top Nazis in Nuremberg on October 16, 1946. "Ten men in 103 minutes," Woods reportedly said later. "That's fast work."
At the time, Woods was training his replacement, a 29-year-old MP named Joseph Malta, who went on to hang 60 Nazi government and military criminals.
But the psychological strain finally drove Woods to excessive drinking and paranoia. Malta took over and Woods returned to his old engineers outfit.
Woods died in July 1950 while serving in the Pacific with the 7th Engineering Brigade on Eniwetok, in the Marshall Islands. He was accidentally electrocuted while working on a high tension power line. He was 39 years old, married with no children.
Among his awards were two campaign medals and the Army of Occupation Medal with "Germany" clasp.
There is no specific medal for hangmen.
Master Sergeant John Woods, chief hangman of the ETO, in December 1944
Master sergeant Woods and his wife Hazel, a nurse
Woods hanged dozens of Nazis in Landsberg prison as well as Nuremberg, Bruchsal, and Rheinbach prisons in 1946
Apr 13, 2016 15:43:49 #
Even knowing how inhumane war is, that is especially gruesome. I can't tell if he qulifies as a good soldier/person or not.
Very interesting post, thanks.
Very interesting post, thanks.
Apr 13, 2016 15:58:20 #
Apr 13, 2016 16:00:53 #
Apr 13, 2016 16:08:47 #
The noose he's holding in the picture looks hinky. I'm guessing his experience wasn't professional.
Apr 13, 2016 16:58:07 #
BassmanBruce wrote:
Even knowing how inhumane war is, that is especially gruesome. I can't tell if he qulifies as a good soldier/person or not.
Very interesting post, thanks.
Very interesting post, thanks.
Thank you for the comment, BassmanBruce. The details of the crimes committed by the American GIs are more than gruesome. Their victims included 26 fellow American GIs (murdered) and 71 British, French, German, Italian, Polish, and Algerian civilians (both male and female) who were murdered and/or raped. The Army cooperated with the survivors and family members, permitting them to observe the execution, which often was held in the village or town where the crime was committed. Before they were hanged, the criminal GIs were stripped of all their insignias and any awards and dishonorably discharged. Later the bodies were buried in a special graveyard known as Plot E of the Oise-Aisne American Cemetary and Memorial in northern France. The cemetary holds the remains of 6,012 soldiers who died in the First World War. Plot E is hidden behind hedges and has no identifications, only 96 numbered flat stones. No American flags are permitted.
Master Sergeant John Woods is buried in the Toronto (Kansas) Township Cemetery. His fellow soldiers reported that he was a friendly, amiable man and a good teacher. His parents separated while he was in school, and he dropped out after one year of high school. After his discharge from the Navy, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, but he again went AWOL, refused to work, and was dishonorably discharged. Until he was drafted in 1943, he was a laborer on construction projects and a part-time employee of a feed-store. Apparently he found a home in the Army.
Apr 13, 2016 17:15:35 #
Doddy wrote:
Fascinating reading Richard..thanks for posting.
Thank you for your interest, Doddy! I really appreciate it.
Apr 13, 2016 17:18:13 #
pbearperry wrote:
He certainly knew the ropes.
Knot so, pbear! Thanks for your comment.
Apr 13, 2016 17:48:36 #
davidk2020 wrote:
The noose he's holding in the picture looks hinky. I'm guessing his experience wasn't professional.
Thanks for checking in, David. Woods never claimed to be a professional hangman. After the International Nuremberg trial, he was quoted by The New York Times as saying, "I hanged those ten Nazis.,,and I am proud of it. I wasn't nervous. A fellow can't afford to have nerves in this business. I want to put in a good word for those GIs who helped me...they all did swell. I am trying to get [them] a promotion. The way I look at this hanging job, somebody has to do it. I got into it kind of by accident, years ago in the States." (A lynching, maybe?)
David, you might be interested in the Army's official diagrams for tying the hangman's knot. A 1947 Army pamphlet, "Procedure for Military Executions", is posted on the Internet. Just Google it for fun reading.
One option permits the commanding officer to provide a band(!) at the execution. The manual suggests playing the "Death March" as the escort, with the prisoner, approaches the gallows. "Upon the pronouncement of the death of the prisoner, the escort, with band playing a lively air, will return to the parade ground and be dismissed."
You can't make up stuff like that!
Apr 13, 2016 18:56:58 #
Richard this is crazy interesting and something I knew nothing about. Thanks for the posting Richard. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
Apr 13, 2016 19:06:07 #
Apr 13, 2016 20:57:23 #
Apr 14, 2016 05:47:42 #
As it relates to the crimes committed by the American soldiers, you might be interested in a book published in 2013 by historian Mary Louise Roberts entitled "What Soldiers Do," which is about The motivations and actions of many GIs in Europe during WWII.
Apr 14, 2016 06:37:21 #
You might also read: "Ardennes 1944: The Battle of the Bulge" by Anthony Beevor.
Apr 14, 2016 07:02:26 #
Richard, thanks for the interesting post. Your WWII series has been most enlightening.
~Lee
~Lee
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