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I, too, have mixed feelings about this. I have no doubt that General Rudder deserved the MOH, but I think that it is an embarrassment to everyone concerned to pursue the MOH at this late date. I agree that General Rudder might be embarrassed today if he were awarded that medal and Edlin was not. Some things are best left alone. General Rudder was satisfied that he had always done his best, and he did not solicit or encourage praise for anything that he ever did. He was truly the greatest Soldier I ever knew.
General Rudder made a great point when he suggested that a Ranger should not be given a medal for doing something that Rangers are expected to do on a routine basis.
Most people don't know that General Rudder was pulled out of the Rangers and given command of an Infantry Regiment. He and that regiment were plugged into the gap at the Battle of the Bulge, and they had a lot to do with stopping the German offensive. His actions there may have been more significant than what he did at Pointe du Hoc, although I would not take anything away from the Normandy action. Tom Hatfield covers this in his Rudder biography. Hatfield also covers the Edlin story, and the execution of the only soldier executed by the U. S during WW2 for desertion (others were executed for rape and murder). Most folks don't know that it fell General Rudder's lot to carry out that execution. Very sad.
Talk about the fickle finger of fate: what were the odds against Rudder having to be involved with the Slovik execution? About 40,000 American troops were charged with desertion during WW2. Only Eddie Slovik was executed. (This should raise an eyebrow or two--it seems a bit unfair to me, although we always knew that we could be shot for cowardice). Slovik deserted from the 109th Infantry Regiment BEFORE Rudder was assigned to the regiment. Rudder had never met the soldier until the day of execution. By the time the appeals had made their rounds and the execution date was set, Rudder had been transferred to the 109th. Army protocol was that a deserter who was to be shot had to be shot by soldiers from his own regiment, so Rudder, as regimental commander felt that he had to be there. The division commander, to his credit, also was present. Rudder's message to his troops after the execution was a masterpiece.
Rudder told his wife about the incident later, but he never mentioned it to his kids, and they first learned of it when the crap hit the fan after the book about Slovik was published. Some of the stupid media people tried to infer that Rudder should get some of the blame for the Slovik affair, but he had nothing to do with it, and just happened to be the commander when the execution took place. He was under orders, and he did his duty.
Since 40,000 other deserters were not sentenced to die, one wonders why only Eddie Slovik took the rap. In my opinion, his desertion occurred at a critical time in the war. At that time it was going to be essential that every soldier stand his ground against the last ditch German attack. Casualties had taken their toll of our seasoned troops, and the army in Europe had a lot of recently drafted soldiers in it. Eisenhower's command had to make sure that desertions were held to a minimum, and they decided to make an example of Eddie Slovik. In short,
Private Slovik picked a very bad time to turn and run.
Later, Rudder said that he thought Slovik had a lot more problems than simple cowardice. In other words, perhaps Slovik should never have been drafted. Still, when we put on that uniform, we know the rules, and most of us obey them. The problem in 1944-45 was that the U. S. had reached the bottom of the manpower barrel, and desperate times call for desperate actions. We drafted nearly anyone who had a pulse. We came close to losing that war. During the Battle of the Bulge, cooks, medics and aviation mechanics who had never been in combat were handed rifles, told to dig a foxhole, and stay there. To their everlasting credit, they did what needed to be done.
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We came close to losing that war.
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Is that true?
