Eddie Slovik (Martin Sheen) was executed by the Army in 1945, the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the Civil War. Despite 49 U.S servicemen being sentenced to death for desertion during World War II, only one execution was actually carried out. Although the custom was to postpone the execution until after the war, then reduce the sentence to a long prison term, thanks to an unfortunate chain of misunderstandings, Slovik ended up dying by gunfire in a lonely French courtyard. Martin Sheen excels in this double Emmy Award winning film of the tragic true story.