Conscripts might have been drafted, but they weren't enslaved. They were still paid...

Take the case of one private in the who was conscripted in 1939. His pay was two shillings (10 pence) per day, which totals up to 14 shillings per week (70 pence). Compare this to his civilian job, which had paid him £6 (120 shillings per week).

This was also low compared to what servicemen from other countries received. In 1942, one Member of Parliament complained:

From the information I have been able to obtain it seems that the minimum rate of pay of a non-tradesman private in the United States Army who is now in the British Isles works out at about 5s. per day. The minimum rate for the similar kind of private in the Canadian Army is 5s. 2d., [5 shillings or (12 pence), 2 pence] and in the Australian Army 6s. 9d. The British equivalent receives 2s. 6d. From then onwards the increases in each case are more or less proportionate. This discrepancy shows that 5s. a day would be a fair minimum for the British non-tradesman private. That is double what he is receiving now.

The British private often finds himself in a humiliating position when he meets soldiers from other countries. I have spoken to several and they have been rather reluctant at having to meet privates from other countries. In the part of the world where I live the ordinary British private will not go into a "pub" if privates from other countries are there. It is not that they do not like them, but if they go in they are not able to hold their own when it comes to a round of drinks. The "blokes" from other countries, who have more money to spend, 1474 can go to cinemas, to which the British soldier is not able to go. The British private, too, often finds it more than difficult to get even those things that are essential to him. He cannot even afford to buy a sufficiency of stamps, cleaning material, tooth paste and the like.

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During World War II there were some 40,000 men who deserted the army. Of these men 2,864 received sentences from somewhere between 20 years and death. But there was only one man actually excuted - Eddie Slovik. Slovik is the only person executed for desertion by the US Army since 1864. This strange occurrence caused William Bradford Huie to look into Private Slovik's life and his execution. The Execution of Private Eddie Slovik is a very interesting book to read. It also provides us with a good description of a person's income and expenses during the Second World War.

Before he was drafted into the army Eddie got in trouble and spent some time in prison and a reformatory. When he got out of jail he started out at 50 cents per hour dressing windows and cleaning floors in a department store and soon received enough raises to bring his pay up to $1.05 per hour with time and a half for overtime. Working a forty hour week would have given Eddie $80 per month when he first got out of prison and worked his way up to $168 per month by the time he got married. He then went to Desoto and got a job as a shipping clerk at $1.40 per hour or $224 per month (assuming twenty 8 hour work days per month).

Eddie had been called to the draft board but was classified as 4-F, unfit for service. He had weak legs resulting from birth defects and surgery as a child, had a criminal record and his prison councillors and parole officer described him as a timid person that had been knocked around as a timid child most likely to hide or run away if caught in battle.

With a wife, a decent wage and lots of overtime available, coupled with no chance of being drafted into the army Eddie and his wife sought to better their lifestyles. They moved into a nice apartment then bought furniture and a car on credit. In 1944 his monthly payments were $38 on rent, $70 on furniture and $16.75 on a Pontiac car, or $124.75 per month - Food, electricity gas and clothing not included.

War consumes young men. By 1944 the army was running short of men so they began changing the classifications of men from fit to unfit. In November of 1943 Eddie was called to the draft board and he began training in January of 1944.

At the time of the execution, Huie tells us that Eddie Slovik was receiving $60 per month in pay and a $15 Class E monthly dependent allotment for his wife. From this a $22 Class F deduction and $6.75 for a $10,000 Life Insurance policy was taken away. This provided Eddie with an income just $46.30 per month to make his monthly payments of $124.74 and support his pregnant wife.

Eddie wrote more than a letter per day to his wife. Many of these are published in Huie's book. We see Eddies wife giving up their apartment and moving in with her mother and feel the anguish as their furniture and car are given up. A loss made much worse for a person who grew up poor and never been treated well or owned a nice thing until he met his wife. In June of 1944 Eddie gets a 10 day furlough to go home and see his wife. She had to borrow money from her mother so they could pay for his trip home and back to his base in Texas.

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Eddie had a physical disability. His legs were bow legged from birth and though he had surgeries to correct them as a child they gave him constant pain. There is a photograph of him with the other recruits taken during his basic training. He is wearing slippers. He was allowed to by his commander because heavy army boots hurt his legs. He applied for an for an exemption from serving because of his legs but was denied. He applied for an exemption from serving due to financial hardships and was denied. He told his leaders that he would refuse to shoot his gun at another person and the army shipped him off to war.

He sailed out of New York on August 7, 1944. He arrived at Omaha Beach on August 20. On August 25^th he was sent to join G Company of the 109^th Infantry in Elbeuf, France. He got in a truck and drove past miles of destruction and dead bodies lying all over, then was fired on and shelled during some extreme fightingthat night. He dug in, then got separated from his company. He was found by a Canada Battalion and stayed with them until joining the 109^th again on October 8. On October 9 he surrendered to officers of the 28^th division and confessed to desertion, then said he would desert again if sent back to battle. He was given the option to return to the front and all charges against him would be dropped but he refused. He was was sent to Paris to face a court martial.

When his execution had been confirmed and the date set said to Father Cummings ".... I'm getting a break that the fellows up on the line don't get. Here I get to sit here with you and I know I'm going to get it. I know I'm going to die in a few minutes. But up there on the line you never know when it's coming, and it's that uncertainty that gets you. I guess that's what I couldn't take - that uncertainty."

He was executed on January 31, 1945. He walked up to the wall and faced his firing squad without a tremble. One of his executioners said "that little guy was the bravest coward I've ever seen."

His body is buried by the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery. Plots A, B, C and D are filled with dead soldiers. Across the road from this cemetery, hidden behind a cottage is Plot E containing 96 graves marker only by a number. Ninety five of the graves are of American soldiers who were hung for crimes such as rape or murder of unarmed civilians. The ninety-sixth grave, plot number 65 is Private Eddie Slovik.

His wife received a telegram that said her husband "had died in the European Theater of Operations," and nothing more. When she inquired about his life insurance she was informed that it would not be paid because he died "under dishonorable circumstances."