Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E

View across Plot "E", Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, France

The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial, located one and one half miles east of Fère-en-Tardenois in France, contains the remains of 6,012 service personnel, all of whom died during World War One. The main cemetery comprises 4 burial plots i.e. A, B, C and D. Plot E 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 of murder, rape or both crimes committed during or shortly after World War II. Their victims were 26 fellow American soldiers (all murdered) and 71 British, French, Italian, Polish and Algerian civilians (both male and female) who were raped and/or murdered.

Some of the British murder victims were children e.g. 15-year-old Elizabeth Green who was raped and strangled by Corporal Ernest Lee Clarke (grave 68) and Private Augustine M. Guerra (grave 44) at Ashford on 22 August 1944, or 7-year-old Patricia Wylie who was raped and strangled by Private William Harrison (grave 62) in Northern Ireland on 25 September 1944. However, most rape and murder victims were adults e.g. 75-year-old Agnes Cope who was raped by Private Aniceto Martinez (grave 39) on 6 August 1944, or Joyce Brown who was raped by Corporal Robert L. Pearson (grave 22) and Private Parson [aka Cubia] Jones (grave 15) on 3 December 1944 - whilst she was heavily pregnant. Another case involved Private Lee A. Davis (grave 61) who raped Muriel Fawden after fatally shooting her friend 19-year-old Cynthia June Lay near Savernake Hospital, Marlborough on 28 September 1943. The case of Louis Till (grave 73) or the murder of Sir Eric Teichman by George E.Smith (grave 52) on 3 December 1944 represent typical examples of the crimes committed. Similarly, on 10 February 1945, Privates Yancy Waiters (grave 31) and Robert L. Skinner (grave 64) were hanged simultaneously on a gallows set up in the village of Hameau au Pigeon in Quettetot on the Cherbourg peninsula. Both men had been convicted of murder and rape. Among spectators at their execution were twenty French witnesses including nineteen year old Marie Osouf (the girl who was raped) and the family of Auguste Lebarillier (Marie's boyfriend) who was murdered.

The US Army executed a total of 98 servicemen following General Courts Martial (GCM) for murder or rape, or both crimes, 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 dishonorable dead", since (per standard practice) all had been Dishonorably Discharged from the US Army just prior to their executions.

Plot "E" is detached from the main four cemetery plots for the honored dead of World War I. It is located across the road and deliberately hidden from view, inside a 100 x 50 feet oval-shaped clearing surrounded by hedges and hidden in thick forest. The plot is accessible only through the back door of the superintendent's office. 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". Unlike the marble monuments and inscribed standing headstones of the regular plots, Plot E contains nothing but 96 flat stone markers (arranged in 4 rows) and a single small granite cross. The white grave markers are the size of index cards and have nothing on them except sequential grave numbers engraved in black. The intention was that individual graves would be impossible to identify. However, full identification can now be made using the table shown below, which only became available in 2009, following a Freedom of Information Act request.

No US flag is permitted to fly over the section, and the numbered graves literally lie with their backs turned to the hallowed ground of the main cemetery on the other side of the road. The existence of Plot E is not mentioned on the cemetery website or in guide pamphlets. The only individual buried in Plot E who had not been convicted of rape or murder was Eddie Slovik, who was executed for desertion on 31 January 1945. Many years later, in 1987, President Reagan gave permission for Slovik's remains to be exhumed and returned to the United States for reburial.

Burials at Plot "E" of the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery

The following table provides names, serial numbers, locations, and grave numbers of deceased interred in Plot "E" of the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery.

Location of Plot E highlighted in red. The official ABMC guide pamphlet (from which this map is derived) does not show Plot E

Name of Person	Serial Number	Row	Grave Number
Agee, Amos	34163762	1	14
Anderson, Roy W.	35407199	2	29
Bailey, Milbert	34151488	4	90
Baldwin, Walter J.	34020111	2	43
Bennerman, Sidney Jr	34174757	3	57
Brinson, Eliga	34052175	4	93
Burns, Lee A.	38520648	4	74
Clark, Ernest L.	33212946	3	68
Clay, Matthew Jr	38490561	1	3
Cooper, John D.	34562464	4	81
Crews, Otis B.	14057830	2	30
Davis, Arthur E.	36788637	4	82
Davis, Lee A.	18023362	3	61
Davis, William E.	33541888	1	19
Davison, Tommie	34485174	3	60
Donnelly, Robert L.	13131982	4	95
Downes, William C.	33519814	1	16
Ervin, Charlie Jr	34042926	3	54
Farrell, Arthur J.	32559163	1	21
Gordon, Tom	34091950	1	10
Grant, General L.	34557976	3	59
Green, George Jr	38476751	2	36
Guerra, Augustine M.	38458023	2	44
Hall, Willie	33268841	4	83
Harris, Wiley, Jr	6924547	4	92
Harrison, William Jr	15089828	3	62
Heard, Haze	34562354	2	38
Hendricks, James E.	33453189	1	13
Holden, Mervin	38226564	1	8
Hopper, Benjamin F.	32720571	1	7
Jefferies, Charles H.	33181343	4	78
Johnson, Willie	38270465	2	28
Jones, Cubia (aka Parson)	34563790	1	15
Jones, James L.	34221343	4	84
Jones, John T.	38315973	2	48
Jones, Kinney	34120505	2	42
Jordan, Charlie H.	14066430	2	40
Kendrick, James E.	14026995	1	5
Kluxdal, Paul M.	36395076	2	35
Leatherberry, J. C.	34472451	4	86
Lucas, William N.	36639075	4	96
Mack, John M.	34042053	1	4
Mack, William	32620461	3	63
Mahoney, Joseph J.	12008332	1	11
Mariano, Blake W.	38011593	1	12
Martinez, Aniceto	38168482	2	39
Maxey, Curtis L.	34554198	3	71
McCarter, William J.	34675988	4	91
McGhee, Shelton Sr	34529025	1	6
McMurray, Fred A.	38184335	1	2
Nelson, Henry W.	35726029	1	1
Newman, Oscar N.	35226382	1	80
Norris, Clete O.	37082314	4	79
Ortiz, Victor	30405077	4	87
Parker, Woodrow	34561139	3	56
Pearson, Robert L.	38326741	1	22
Pennyfeather, William D.	32801627	3	66
Philpot, Henry C.	39080069	4	89
Pittman, Willie A.	34400976	3	50
Pygate, Benjamin	33741021	4	85
Robinson, Charles M.	38164425	3	70
Rollins, Alvin R.	34716953	3	51
Sanders, James B.	34124233	3	58
Schmiedel, Werner E.	7041115	3	53
Scott, Richard B.	38040012	2	45
Skinner, Robert L.	35802328	3	64
Smalls, Abraham	34512812	1	23
Smith, Charles H.	36337437	4	77
Smith, George E. Jr	33288266	3	52
Smith, John C.	33214953	3	67
Smith, Willie	3456556	3	69
Spears, Charles E.	32337619	1	18
Spencer, Elwood, J.	33739343	2	33
Spinks, Mansfield	36793241	3	49
Stroud, Harvey	33215131	2	26
Taylor, John W.	37485128	1	24
Thomas, Madison	38265363	4	76
Till, Louis	36392273	4	73
Twiggs, James W.	38265086	4	88
Valentine, Leo	32954278	2	41
Waters, John H.	32337934	2	46
Watson, Frank Jr	34793522	3	55
Watson, Ray	33139251	2	25
Watson, Joseph	39610125	1	17
White, Armstead	34401104	2	47
White, David	34400884	3	72
Whitfield, Clarence	34672443	2	37
Williams, Ellsworth	34200976	2	32
Williams, John	32794118	4	94
Williams, Olin W.	34649494	1	20
Wilson, J. P.	32484756	1	9
Wimberly, Willie J.	36392154	2	34
Wray, Robert	34461589	4	75
Waiters, Yancy	37499079	2	31

Note: additional background information (e.g. place of enlistment and year of birth etc.) regarding the condemned men can be found by entering the relevant service number into Online World War II Indexes & Records.

• Private Eddie Slovik, 36896415, was buried in Row 3 Grave 65 until his remains were returned to the United States in 1987.
• Private Alex F. Miranda, 39297382, was buried in Row 2 Grave 27 until his remains were returned to the United States in 1990.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• An aerial view of Plot E showing its location relative to the main cemetery
• Capital Punishment by the United States military
• Shepton Mallet (HM Prison) - provides details of the 18 American servicemen executed there who were later moved to Plot E