1943: David Cobb, the first U.S. serviceman hanged in World War II Britain
4 comments March 12th, 2015 Headsman
David Cobb, Private, Company C, 827th Engineer Battalion (Aviation), on March 12, 1943 achieved the milestone distinction of becoming the first U.S. soldier executed in Great Britain.
On December 27, 1942 — a mere 11 days after arriving in Britain — Cobb was ordered by a Lt. Robert Cobner to surrender his weapon when the private popped off to him during a routine inspection. Instead, Cobb shot Cobner dead.
He was hanged by the British executioner Thomas Pierrepoint at Shepton Mallet prison — a fortress dating to 1610 and still in use to the present day. The U.S. Army employed part of the prison during World War II to carry out 18 military executions; over half of these men were, like Cobb, black.
On this day..
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- 1858: William Williams, guano-freighter cook - 2016
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- 1421: The last Viennese Jews - 2013
- 1975: Olga Hepnarova, tram spotter - 2012
- 2006: The family of Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi - 2011
- 1939: Mikayil Mushfig, Azerbaijani poet - 2010
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Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,Disfavored Minorities,England,Execution,Hanged,Milestones,Military Crimes,Murder,Racial and Ethnic Minorities,Soldiers,U.S. Military,USA,Wartime Executions
Tags: 1940s, 1943, david cobb, march 12, shepton mallet, world war ii
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