German POW Execution
(This page is an extract of notes prepared for a tour of the old USDB facility after it was abandoned and before the castle was removed by deputy Combined Arms Center historian Kelvin Crow)
Execution site: Source of some controversy. Vincent Green in Extreme Justice and Richard Whittingham in Martial Justice both say the execution took place in building 466. But their narratives, and that of the other witness, say the execution took place in an elevator shaft and 466 does not now and did not in 1945 have an elevator or shaft. The MP’s teach their new soldier it took place in 465 because that building does have an elevator. They even point to handprints in the cement and scratches in the walls said to be made by the condemned men as they were executed.
The witnesses to the executions do not say where it took place, but their writings give us the following clues. They say the building was:
Ø One of the oldest buildings on post
Ø Once a warehouse, tailor shop, electrical shop and salvage warehouse
Ø It had an elevator shaft 8 feet square
Ø Three stories high with a basement.
Ø Had room inside for a large crowd of people (7 reporters, three executioners, Col, Priest, Minister, military observers, at least 15)
Ø You could get to the basement by going out the front door, around the corner and downhill.
Ø It was 300 feet or 250 yards from the Castle depending on the source.
I believe it was 467. This building was built in 1887 (58 years old at the time of the executions) and one of the older buildings on post. It has seen use as a warehouse, shoe shop, and was at the time the salvage warehouse. It had large open bays, it was three stories high with a basement and, as you can see, it has a back door around the corner and downhill from the main entrance. While it does not now have an elevator, the architectural drawings on file in with the post engineers show that it did have an elevator, in an 8-foot square shaft, in 1945.
Building 465 was built in 1929, making it just 16 years old at the time of the execution. It is 4 stories high, and was built for and in use as the medical and dental clinic in 1945. It has an elevator, but it is only 7 feet across and is placed in such a way that no more than a few persons could observe the goings on, not the crowd the observers record. Finally, it is just too close to the main entrance of the Castle.
LTC Raymond Orr, Quarter Master for the prison, had to design a system that was inside because of the weather and the need for privacy, and that could be quickly set up and torn down. He chose an elevator shaft in this building. To operate the gallows the elevator was placed on the 3rd floor, and a platform was set up on the 1st floor with a 7-foot drop into the basement. Rope used was 7/8" hemp looped around a 4X10" beam swung over the site from the 2nd floor. Trap was a 3-foot square opening with a black circle painted on it to show the condemned man where to stand. It was operated by a 4-foot lever. The condemned man was marched out from the main door of the prison (some say with a 13 man guard detail) in as full a German uniform as could be made available. He was placed on the scaffold and the charges (89th and 92nd articles of war – riot and murder) and sentence were again read to him. He was given the chance to make a last statement. Then his headgear was removed, his arms bound behind him and his feet tied together, a black bag placed over his head and the noose fitted to his neck. The Commandant of the DB, Colonel William S. Easley, said, “May God have mercy on your soul.” and gave a signal to the executioner who pulled the lever to release the trap door. The post surgeon, Major Roy Cram, and two other doctors were stationed in the basement to certify death. After the priest had cut a portion of the bag away to anoint the dying man with oil, one of the doctors would climb the stepladder every five minutes to check for heart function. This took an average of 19 minutes. The whole execution, from the time the group left the front door, took only about 30 minutes. Each could begin immediately after the removal of the body because a hangman’s knot was tied in the opposite end of the rope while waiting for the previous man to expire. After he died the old knot was cut away and the process repeated.
Cemetery is located north west of the prison, and was established in 1884.
First prisoner to die in the DB was John P. Hunter in Sept 1875 of malarial fever. He and the 16 others (through 1883) were buried in the National Military Cemetery. In that year Quartermaster General Ingalls saw the graves and severely reprimanded those in charge for interring those who had died dishonored in such hallowed ground. So the Prison Cemetery was created in 1884. The oldest grave here is that Sidney Williams who died on the 10th of March 1884. There are approximately 240 graves here, most from the later decades of the 19th century and the first of the 20th. While some of these men died by execution, most were victims of disease. By far the most common crime of the time was desertion, and most of these men would have been confined for 3 to 5 years for that, plus other associated crimes. The graves are oriented north and south, rather than the east/west alignment in the main post cemetery. It is traditional that honorable burials be made so that the interned faces east, so that they may rise when called at the resurrection of the dead. This opposite orientation is meant to reflect on the character of life and mode of death of those buried here.
The newest grave is that of Ernest L. Ranson, aged 26. He was hanged on gallows set up in the prison power plant after being tried and convicted of murdering a Korean guard and raping a 14-year-old Korean girl. He was killed and buried April 3rd 1957.
German graves: Three sets, all having to do with murder by prisoners of war (POWS) of POWS.
First five: Taken from Extreme Justice by Vincent Green
Scene takes place in the Tonlowa OK POW camp in 1943. Kunze offered to trade information on German defenses for a transfer to a California POW camp and an option to stay on there after the war. Unfortunately for him camp officials asked a German POW to translate one of the notes he gave them and the word got back to the prisoners that he was a traitor. Beyer activated his midnight chain of command after the Americans had left for the day and read out the damming letter to the assembled company. He was beaten to death by the mob. The MPs burst in about 30 minutes after he was dead and inspected the prisoners for bloodstains or other evidence they had been involved. In the trial it was established these men were among the guiltiest ones.
After conviction they were moved to the basement of wing 4 in the Castle with the 9 other German POWs. After a failed review by the Army Board of appeals the President approved their sentence and notification was made to the Germans. By now it was April 1945. A swap was agreed to, but the German government fell first. Executed July 10th 1945.
Next two:
Sergeant Erick Gauss (32)
Private Rudolf Straub (39)
These two murdered Corporal Horst Gunther, age 24, at Camp Gordon, Georgia on April 6th, 1944. Gunther was suspected of anti-Nazi sentiments, particularly because he liked jazz music and might have alerted the authorities to a pending prisoner work stoppage. He was convicted in abstentia by a court of his fellow prisoners, lured from his tent and strangled to death by these two in front of five witnesses. His body was then taken to a telephone pole and hung to make it appear as if he had committed suicide.
Last seven: taken from The Last Mass Execution and from Richard Wittingham’s Martial Justice
They murdered Werner Drexler, a young U boat man. Boat attacked and he was captured, taken to Fort Hunt, a special naval interrogation center. There he was turned into American agent used to collected info on other German prisoners. When his utility was over he was shipped to Ft. Leonard Wood and turned over to the Army’s 9th Service command. 9th SC had responsibility for all POW ops in the west. There was a note in his file not to put him in with other U boat POWs or he would be recognized and compromised. But he was mysteriously moved (March 12th 1944) to Papago Park, a POW Camp in Arizona desert, with a pop of 4,000 U boat sailors. He was immediately recognized, tried in abstentia by kangaroo court of petty officers then beaten and hung in the shower room. He was dead in 6 ½ hours after arrival.
Seven men were held responsible for the murder, but the whole camp was complicit.
One man caught because of wounds to his hands in the scuffle. Taken to special interrogation center and he implicates the others. Tried Aug 15th 1944 in a secret court martial before 12 US Army officers. Found guilty and sentenced to death. Jan 29th, 1945 arrive at death row in this prison. Court martial judgment reviewed on appeal and approved by President Roosevelt. Verdict communicated to the German government
Hitler immediately sentences seven American POWs to death and proposes a swap. Secretary of War Stimpson agrees. Germany requires transcripts of the trials – this will reveal several secret interrogation techniques. US delays (confusion?) and the end of the war leads to further delays. German POW camps overrun and the condemned Americans liberated.
Germany surrenders. FDR dies. New president will have to review and resign the verdicts. June 3rd 1945 Truman re-signs. Executed 25 August 1945.