The following is a list of people known to have been executed by the United States military since 1917. For a broader discussion, including earlier application of the death penalty under military law, see: Capital punishment by the United States military.
This list separates executions by branches; the Uniform Code of Military Justice did not exist until 1950.
Executions after the enactment of Uniform Code of Military Justice A total of ten military executions have been carried out by the United States Army under the provisions of the original Uniform Code of Military Justice of May 5, 1950. Executions must be approved by the president of the United States. Only a general courts martial may award a sentence of death. As such, they are therefore subject to an automatic process of review. The first four of these executions, those of Bernard John O'Brien, Chastine Beverly, Louis M. Suttles, and James L. Riggins, were carried out by military officials at the Kansas State Penitentiary near Lansing, Kansas. The remaining six executions took place in the boiler room of the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Currently, military executions are to take place at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. Hanging and not shooting was the method employed in these ten executions. Electrocution was also made an authorized method, but was never used. Current regulations allow the Secretary of the Army to specify a method of execution.
Name Race Age Sex Date of execution Location of crime MethodCrime Victim(s) President 1 White 34 M July 31, 1954 Bad Aibling, Bavaria, West GermanyHangingPremeditated murder Dorothy Lucia O'Brien, 35, white (wife)Dwight D. Eisenhower 2 Black 25 MMarch 1, 1955Fort Leonard Wood, MissouriHarry Amos Langley, 52, white 3 26 M 4 28 M 5 23 M February 14, 1957 Kitzingen, Bavaria, West Germany Maria Stowasser, white 6 23 M Fort Bragg, North Carolina Charles Pettit, 26, white 7 26 M April 3, 1957 Incheon, SCA, KoreaPremeditated murder and rape Chae Seung Man (murdered) and unnamed female, 14 (raped), Korean 8 29 M July 23, 1958 Gersthofen, Bavaria, West GermanyPremeditated murder (4 specifications) 4 victims 9 30 M September 23, 1959 Seoul, SCA, KoreaPremeditated murder Lee Mak Chun, Korean 10 25 M April 13, 1961 Siezenheim, Salzburg, AustriaRape Gertrude, 11, white John F. Kennedy
Demographics Race Black 9 90% White 1 10% Age 20–29 8 80% 30–39 2 20% Sex Male 10 100% Date of execution 1950–1959 9 90% 1960–1969 1 10% 1970–1979 0 0% 1980–1989 0 0% 1990–1999 0 0% 2000–2009 0 0% 2010–2019 0 0% 2020–2029 0 0% Method Hanging 10 100% President (Party) Harry S. Truman (D) 0 0% Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) 9 90% John F. Kennedy (D) 1 10% Lyndon B. Johnson (D) 0 0% Richard Nixon (R) 0 0% Gerald Ford (R) 0 0% Jimmy Carter (D) 0 0% Ronald Reagan (R) 0 0% George H. W. Bush (R) 0 0% Bill Clinton (D) 0 0% George W. Bush (R) 0 0% Barack Obama (D) 0 0% Donald Trump (R) 0 0% Joe Biden (D) 0 0% Donald Trump (R) 0 0% Total 10 100%
People currently awaiting execution under the UCMJ Four people are currently awaiting execution under the UCMJ. All executions, if carried out, will be by a method specified by the Secretary of the Army. NameDate of sentencingCrime Ronald Adrin Gray April 12, 1988 Two specifications of premeditated murder, one specification of attempted premeditated murder, and three specifications of rape Hasan Karim Akbar April 28, 2005 Two specifications of premeditated murder and three specifications of attempted premeditated murder Timothy Baily Hennis April 15, 2010 Three specifications of premeditated murder Nidal Malik Hasan August 28, 2013 Thirteen specifications of premeditated murder and thirty-two specifications of attempted premeditated murder. Scheduled to be executed by firing squad on December 3, 2026.
Executions by the Army
During World War I and up to 1919 The United States Army executed 36 soldiers, all of them by hanging, between November 5, 1917, and June 20, 1919, all for rape and/or murder. Of those executed, three were white, 32 were black, and one was Native American. Eleven of these executions were carried out in France while the remaining 25 were carried out in the continental United States.Establishment of Military Justice – Proposed Amendment of the Articles of War, Thursday September 25, 1919. United States Senate, Subcommittee on Military Affairs, Washington, D. C. (loc.gov/)
Nineteen black soldiers were executed in Texas for roles in the Houston riot of 1917. In 2023, all 19 black soldiers who were executed for their roles in the Houston riot of 1917, along with 91 other black soldiers who were convicted, but not executed, had their convictions set aside by the military on the grounds that their trials had been unfair and were held in a racist atmosphere. Name RaceAgeDate of executionLocationCrimeVictim(s)President Frank CadueNative American26 November 5, 1917 Givrauval, France, European Theater Premeditated murder and rapeRaymonde Georgette Sirjean, 7, whiteWoodrow Wilson Charles W. BaltimoreBlack23 December 11, 1917 Salado Creek, TexasPremeditated murder, mutiny, and willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer14 people, white William BreckenridgeIra B. Davis28James Divins24Thomas C. Hawkins24Frank JohnsonPat McWhorter24Jesse Moore27William C. Nesbit30Carlos Snodgrass24James Wheatley26Risley W. Young40 John B. Mann 21 April 5, 1918 Camp Logan, TexasPremeditated murderRalph Morton Foley, 20, white Walter Matthews Stanley Tramble31 July 5, 1918 Camp Dodge, IowaRapeJessie Barnes, 17, white Nelson Johnson30 Fred Allen22 Nat HoffmanWhite25July 11, 1918Camp MacArthur, TexasFemale, 11, white Charles E. ChambersBlack23July 13, 1918Bazoilles-sur-Meuse, France, European Theater Marie Lapotre, 68, whiteAugust 30, 1918France, European TheaterFemale, 54, white William Buckner19September 6, 1918Georgette Thiebau, 23, whiteBabe Collier30September 17, 1918Fort Sam Houston, TexasPremeditated murder, mutiny, and willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer14 people, white Thomas McDonald29James RobinsonJoseph SmithAlbert D. WrightWilliam D. BooneSeptember 25, 1918 James Favors25November 8, 1918France, European TheaterRapeFemale, 38, white January 24, 1919Female, child, whiteJoe Cathey28April 4, 1919Is-sur-Tille, France, European TheaterPremeditated murderMale, adult, white Clair L. BlodgettWhite22April 25, 1919RapeFemale, 8, whiteHenry WilliamsBlackJune 20, 1919France, European TheaterPremeditated murder and rapeMale and female, adult and child, white Sercy Strong28 Charles F. WithamWhite25 Gièvres, France, European Theater Premeditated murderMale, white (military policeman)
Executions during the interwar period Only one confirmed execution was carried out by the United States Army during the interwar period. In 1926, U.S. Army Lieutenant John Sewell Thompson was executed by hanging for the murder of his fiancée. He was the first American officer executed in peacetime, and to date, he is the only graduate of the United States Military Academy to have been executed. NameAgeRaceDate of executionLocationCrimeVictim(s)President John Sewell Thompson27White March 18, 1926 Fort McKinley, Philippines Premeditated murderAudrey Burleigh, 17, white (fiancée)Calvin Coolidge
Executions by the Army during World War II and up to 1948 The United States Army carried out 141 known executions over a three-year period from 1942 to January 1946Investigations of the National War Effort, Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, June 1946 and a further six executions were conducted between September 1946 and December 1948, for a known total of 147.US Army deserter Karl Hultén was executed 8 March 1945 for the 1944 murder of an English cab driver. He was tried and executed under English law.
These figures encompass US military personnel convicted of various offences and do not include individuals executed by the US Army after being convicted by US military courts for violations of the laws of war, including about 18 German soldiers who were shot after being caught in American uniform as part of Operation Greif during the Battle of the Bulge, persons caught engaging in actions of espionage against US forces, or soldiers/civilians convicted by US military courts of having committed crimes against American military personnel, including as occurred at Rüsselsheim, Germany in 1944 and elsewhere. Evidence suggests that other persons, both American military personnel or enemy combatants/civilians, may have been executed during the Second World War or during the occupation of Germany/Japan pursuant to verdicts by American military tribunals or decisions taken by senior commanders.
Of the 141 known wartime executions of U.S. soldiers by the U.S. Armed Forces, 70 were carried out in the European Theatre, 27 in the Mediterranean Theatre, 21 in the Southwest Pacific Area, 19 in the contiguous United States, two in Hawaii, one in Guadalcanal and one in India. Of the six postwar executions, one took place in Hawaii, one in Japan, two in France, and two in the Philippines. Another execution was carried out by the United States Air Force in Japan in 1950.
All executions carried out by the Army from 1942 to 1948 were performed under the authority of the Articles of War of June 4, 1920, an Act of Congress which governed military justice between 1920 and 1951.
This list includes members of the United States Army Air Forces, which was a part of the Army until September 18, 1947, when it became independent. Executions by the United States Air Force after 1947 are listed separately. This list does not include the executions of American military personnel who were tried under any jurisdiction other than the U.S. Armed Forces. For example, Karl Hulten, an AWOL U.S. Army soldier who was executed in 1945 for the Cleft chin murder, was tried by a British civilian court since he had committed the crime with a British accomplice.
With the exception of Eddie Slovik, who was shot for desertion, all of these soldiers were executed for murder and/or rape. Several of the soldiers listed as convicted and executed for murder and/or rape had also been convicted of other charges, including those of a military nature such as desertion and mutiny, plus lesser crimes that would not have been considered capital unless combined with more serious offenses which carried the death penalty.
Sources for list in References section.