Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E

49°12′01″N 3°33′02″E / 49.20028°N 3.55056°E / 49.20028; 3.55056

The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E is the fifth plot at the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial, an American military cemetery in northern France that comprises four main burial plots (i.e., A, B, C and D) containing the remains of 6,012 service personnel, all of whom died during World War I.^[1]

Plot E is approximately 100 meters away from the main cemetery and is a separate, hidden section which currently contains the remains of 94 American military prisoners, all of whom were executed by hanging or firing squad under military authority for crimes committed during or shortly after World War II. Their victims were 26 fellow American soldiers (all murdered) and 71 British, French, German, Italian,^[2] Polish and Algerian civilians (both male and female) who were raped or murdered.

In total, the US Army executed 98 servicemen following general courts martial for murder or rape in the European Theatre of Operations during the Second World War. The remains of these servicemen were originally buried near the site of their executions, which took place in countries as far apart as England, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Algeria. In 1949, the remains of these men were re-interred in Plot E, a private section specifically built to hold what the Graves Registration referred to as "the dishonored dead"; per standard practice, all had been dishonorably discharged from the US Army the day before their executions. Access is difficult and visitors are not encouraged, though the section is maintained by cemetery caretakers who periodically mow the lawn area and trim the hedges. One cemetery employee described Plot E as a "house of shame" and a "perfect anti-memorial".^[3]

No US flag is permitted to fly over the section, and the numbered graves lie with their backs turned to the main cemetery on the other side of the road.^[4]

The only individual buried in Plot E who had not been convicted of rape or murder was Eddie Slovik (formerly Row 3, Grave 65), who was executed for desertion on 31 January 1945. His wife, Antoinette Slovik, petitioned the Army for her husband's remains and his pension until her death in 1979. Slovik's case was taken up in 1981 by a former Macomb County, Michigan commissioner, Bernard V. Calka, a Polish-American World War II veteran, who continued to press the Army for the return of Slovik's remains. In 1987, he persuaded President Ronald Reagan to grant the petition request.^[5][6][7] In response, Calka raised $5,000 to pay for the exhumation and reinterment at Detroit's Woodmere Cemetery, where Slovik was reburied next to his wife.^[5]

African American murder victim Emmett Till's father, Louis Till, is among the interred convicts.