DETROIT -- The remains of Pvt. Eddie Slovik, the only U.S. soldier executed for desertion since the Civil War, Friday completed a roundabout trip from an unmarked grave in France by way of a surprise stop in San Franciso.
An airlines snafu added another day to the 42-year wait for a proper burial, scheduled for Saturday.
The whereabouts of the black box containing Slovik's bones was a mystery for most of Thursday night as it headed to San Francisco aboard a jetliner unbeknownst to TWA officials.
'It's just a matter of lost luggage,' an airline spokesman said. 'We've misplaced the thing somewhere.'
The black box was discovered Friday morning in San Francisco and immediately transferred to a flight for Slovik's hometown of Detroit.
Slovik's remains were exhumed from a nameless grave Wednesday at the Oisne-Aisne American Cemetery in Fere-en-Tardenois, France, with the approval of U.S. Army officials.
Slovik now will be buried next to his wife, Antoinette, who died in 1979.
'After seven years of work we have a thankful ending to this tragic story,' said Macomb County Commissioner Bernard B. Calka, who overcame repeated delays and bureaucratic obstacles in a lengthy quest to have Slovik's remains returned to the United States.
Slovik, 24, was executed Jan. 31, 1945. There were more than 40,000 desertion cases during World War II and death sentences handed down to 49 people but Slovik was the only one to face the firing squad. It was widely felt that Slovik's pleas for clemency were denied because he had a criminal record.
Slovik was convicted of embezzlement in 1937 for taking $59 worth of candy, gum and cigarettes from a Detroit drug store.
He was paroled but later got into trouble when he and some friends stole a car and fled after wrecking it. Slovik turned himself in the next day and was sent back to prison as a parole violator. He was paroled again in 1942.
A representative of TWA Air Freight said the black box containing Slovik's remains arrived in New York about 4 p.m. Thursday fromFrance on schedule and cleared customs. But instead of being put on another flight to Detroit, it remained aboard the original flight, which continued on to San Francisco.
The TWA spokesman blamed the confusion on the fact that airline workers were looking for a coffin to put on the Detroit plane but the remains were insteadd in a black box about 2 to 3 feet long.
After his execution, Slovik, a native of a Polish enclave of Detroit, was buried in a cemetery plot in France designated only as Grave 65. The cemetery also contained the bodies of 94 other Americans hanged for rape and murder.
Slovik's widow was first told her husband had died in the European Theater. When she applied for death benefits, she learned that her husband had died 'under dishonorable conditions.'
It was not until 1954 that the full story was told in a book by William Bradford Huie. In 1974, actor Martin Sheen portrayed Slovik in a television movie, 'The Execution of Private Slovik.'
The whereabouts of the black box containing Slovik's bones was a mystery for most of Thursday night as it headed to San Francisco aboard a jetliner unbeknownst to TWA officials.
'It's just a matter of lost luggage,' an airline spokesman said. 'We've misplaced the thing somewhere.'
The black box was discovered Friday morning in San Francisco and immediately transferred to a flight for Slovik's hometown of Detroit. The box arrived Friday afternoon in time for a burial ceremony scheduled for Saturday.
Slovik's remains were exhumed from a nameless grave Wednesday at the Oisne-Aisne American Cemetery in Fere-en-Tardenois, France, with the approval of U.S. Army officials.
Slovik now will be buried next to his wife, Antoinette, who died in 1979.
'After seven years of work we have a thankful ending to this tragic story,' said Macomb County Commissioner Bernard B. Calka, who overcame repeated delays and bureaucratic obstacles in a lengthy quest to have Slovik's remains returned to the United States.
Slovik, 24, was executed Jan. 31, 1945. There were more than 40,000 desertion cases during World War II and death sentences handed down to 49 people but Slovik was the only one to face the firing squad. It was widely felt that Slovik's pleas for clemency were denied because he had a criminal record.
Slovik was convicted of embezzlement in 1937 for taking $59 worth of candy, gum and cigarettes from a Detroit drug store.
He was paroled but later got into trouble when he and some friends stole a car and fled after wrecking it. Slovik turned himself in the next day and was sent back to prison as a parole violator. He was paroled again in 1942.
A representative of TWA Air Freight said the black box containing Slovik's remains arrived in New York about 4 p.m. Thursday from France on schedule and cleared customs. But instead of being put on another flight to Detroit, it remained aboard the original flight, which continued on to San Francisco.
The TWA spokesman blamed the confusion on the fact that airline workers were looking for a coffin to put on the Detroit plane but the remains were instead in a black box about 2 to 3 feet long.
After his execution, Slovik, a native of a Polish enclave of Detroit, was buried in a cemetery plot in France designated only as Grave 65. The cemetery also contained the bodies of 94 other Americans hanged for rape and murder.
Slovik's widow was first told her husband had died in the European Theater. When she applied for death benefits, she learned that her husband had died 'under dishonorable conditions.'
It was not until 1954 that the full story was told in a book by William Bradford Huie. In 1974, actor Martin Sheen portrayed Slovik in a television movie, 'The Execution of Private Slovik.'
