re: #84 Shiplord Kirel

A real deserter and traitor
Martin James Monti

This numbskull was a USAAF P-38 pilot who (metaphorically) jumped aboard a sinking ship by defecting to the Germans in October, 1944, just 7 months before the end of the war in Europe and at a time when the Nazi empire was clearly doomed. He received the rank of Untersturmfhrer (2nd LT) in the SS and made propaganda broadcasts for the Nazis under the name “Martin Wiethaupt.” Allied intelligence was aware that this Martin Wiethaupt was almost certainly an American but could not identify him specifically. Monti was captured at the end of the war and, with his actual defection still unknown, he was initially prosecuted only with desertion. He served a year or so before his sentence was commuted to time served (as were most wartime desertion sentences). In 1948, however, the FBI learned about his SS rank and propaganda broadcasts and he was tried for treason. He served 12 years of a 25 year sentence. He died in 2000 at the age of 79.

Only a twenty five year sentence? Must have been some light treason….