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Fifth Field

Grave of Louis Till

Louis Till was hanged at the stockade at Aversa, Italy on Monday, July 2, 1945.  His body was transferred to the American Military Cemetery at Oise-Aisne in 1949, where he was buried in grave # 73 in the fourth row of the plot known as “the fifth field.”  Till had murdered an Italian woman, raped two other Italian women, assaulted an Italian man and assaulted a U. S. Navy sailor to earn the death sentence.  The Army sent his personal effects home to his estranged wife.  Ten years later, Till’s 14-year-old son Emmett wore his father’s ring, bearing the initials “LT” on a visit from to Chicago to Mississippi.  Three men kidnapped Emmett, tortured and killed him.  His body was so disfigured in the incident that it was difficult for authorities to identify him.  Positive identification was finally made, in part, because of the initials on the ring.  The shocking incident of Emmett Till’s death sparked the Civil Rights movement of the late 1950s.

Grave of Louis Till2015-09-08T19:18:16-05:00

Fifth Field Responses Arriving

(November 6, 2013)  Responses to the publishing of The Fifth Field are starting to arrive.  A Supreme Court Associate Justice, an Army 4-star and Deans of two east coast “Ivy League” Law Schools and one California Law School have written that they each have a copy of the book and look forward to reading it.

Fifth Field Responses Arriving2024-07-21T10:35:31-05:00

Fifth Field Presentations

The Fifth Field presentation on 96 American soldiers executed in World War II

Program for 7th Annual George Prugh Lecture on Military Law History

In April  2013 French MacLean, US Army Retired gave a presentation on The Fifth Field to the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia, as the recipient of the Seventh Annual Major General George S. Prugh Lecture in Military Legal History.

Major General George S. Prugh became the Army’s Judge Advocate General in 1971 and served four years in that position.  He played a significant role in developing additional Protocols to the Geneva Convention during this period.  Shortly before his death in 2006, he provided a generous donation to establish an annual lecture in Military Legal History at the JAG School.

Some 140 majors and lieutenant colonels in the JAG Corps attended the presentation as did Brigadier General Flora Darpino, the Commander and Commandant of the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School.

The presentation centered on the General Courts-Martial of 96 American soldiers in Europe and North Africa and their subsequent sentences, executions and burials in France.  The subject is also a book by Schiffer Publishing, by the author.

 

Fifth Field Presentations2023-06-20T14:20:15-05:00

The Seine Disciplinary Training Center, Paris, Mortier Caserne, 1945

The Seine Disciplinary Training Center, 1945

Five American soldiers were hanged at this DTC, located in eastern Paris, from October 25, 1944 to November 8, 1944.  Major Mortimer H. Christian presided over all five hangings.  Master Sergeant John C. Woods assisted in at least three.  Willie Wimberly Jr., Joseph Watson, Paul M. Kluxdal, James B. Sanders and Roy W. Anderson were hanged at the center located at the Caserne Mortier.  The site is now part of the French intelligence services and access is not permitted.

The Seine Disciplinary Training Center, Paris, Mortier Caserne, 19452015-09-08T19:19:41-05:00

Temporary U.S. Military Cemetery at Marigny

Temporary U.S. Military Cemetery at Marigny

Temporary U.S. Military Cemetery at Marigny, in Normandy, France.  Several dozen of the 96 were first interred here, before they were moved to their permanent graves in 1949.

Temporary U.S. Military Cemetery at Marigny2015-09-11T19:11:10-05:00

Albert Pierrepoint’s Execution Logbook

Albert Pierrepoint’s Execution Logbook

Albert Pierrepoint served as the assistant executioner for his uncle, Thomas Pierrepoint, in seven executions of American soldiers.  The Pierrepoints were a Yorkshire family who provided three of Britain’s Chief Executioners (sometimes called “scaffolders”) in the first half of the 20th century.  Henry Pierrepoint took up the craft first, hanging 105 men from 1901 to 1910.  According to reputable sources, Henry could execute a man in the time it took the prison clock to strike eight – leading him from his cell to the adjacent death chamber on the first stroke, and having him suspended, dead on the rope, by the eighth and final stroke.  Henry persuaded his older brother Thomas W. to take up the calling.  Albert Pierrepoint, born March 30, 1905, Henry’s son and Thomas’s nephew, outdid his father and uncle combined, and executed 434 people (including 16 women) between 1932 and 1956.  Albert resigned over a disagreement about fees in 1956, when he was not paid the full sum of 15£ for an execution.  He was also the proprietor for two pubs, “Help the Poor Struggler” and the “Rose and Crown.”  Albert Pierrepoint died on July 10, 1992 in a nursing home in Southport, Lancashire. Adrian Roose, Director of Paul Fraser Collectables, Bristol, England, graciously provided this photograph; the logbook was on sale at the time from the firm, but Mrs. MacLean balked at the price.

Albert Pierrepoint’s Execution Logbook2015-09-11T19:13:54-05:00
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