Edward Donald Slovik (above) was a private in the U.S Army during World War ll and the only American soldier to be court-martialled and executed for desertion since the Civil War.

Over 21,000 American soldiers were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II, including 49 death sentences,but Slovik’s was the only death sentence carried out.

Slovik’s execution was the basis for a 1954 book by William Bradford Huie.The book was adapted for a TV movie in 1974 starring Martin Sheen and also called The Execution of Private Slovik.

Eugene Allen “Gene” Hackman is a retired actor and a novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and
two British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards in a career that spanned
four decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow
in Bonnie and Clyde. His major subsequent films include his role as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection (1970) Hooseriers (1986), Unforgiven (1992) and
his final film role before retirement was in Welcome to Mooseport (2004). 

           Gene Hackman, left, and Warren Beatty from Bonnie and Clyde

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective – fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career. Poe died on October 7, 1849. The actual cause remains a mystery.

In January 1845 Poe published his poem “THE RAVEN” to instant success.

Benjamin Franklin  was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, and a carriage odometer. He formed both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania.  

A political cartoon by Franklin urged the colonies to join together during
the French and Indian War.

Richard “Dick” Winters, the Easy Company commander whose World War ll exploits were made famous by the book and television miniseries “Band of Brothers,” died last week in central Pennsylvania. He was 92.

According to a statement made by a longtime friend, Winters died following a several-year battle with Parkinson’s Disease. (AP)