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On October 2, 1944, Second Lieutenant (2LT) Martin J. Monti, Jr. deserted from his unit in Karachi, India. He was apprehended thousands of miles away, in Bari, Italy, on May 14, 1945, and was court-martialed for desertion and larceny three months later. An officer panel found him guilty and sentenced Monti to fifteen years confinement at hard labor.1
A little more than three years later, in October 1948, Monti was indicted by a Federal grand jury for the crime of treason. In January 1949, he pleaded guilty to the offense in U.S. District Court in New York City, and was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment.2 What follows is the amazing but true story of Monti's desertion and treason, and his trial by both court-martial and Federal civilian court.
Born near St. Louis, Missouri, in October 1921, Martin James Monti, Jr. was one of seven children. His parents, who were second generation Americans of Swiss-Italian and German ancestry, apparently raised him "in an environment later described as fervently religious, strongly anti-communist, laced with isolationist sentiments and opposed to the tenets of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal."3 Monti's views about life, people and politics also were shaped by Father Charles Coughlin. Known as the "Radio Priest" to his millions and millions of listeners, Coughlin broadcast weekly radio sermons in which he praised the leaders of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy while blaming President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jews, communists and capitalists for what ailed the United States.4 While there is no way to know whether Monti's subsequent treason was the direct result of his personal devotion to Coughlin, whom he visited in the summer of 1942, or his adherence to Coughlin's worldview, these may be the best explanation for what happened.
In late November 1942, Monti enlisted as an aviation cadet in the U.S. Army Air Forces. He reported as an air cadet to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, in February 1943 and eventually qualified as a fighter pilot in both the Lockheed P38 Lightning and the Bell P-39 Airacobra.5 In August 1944, now Second Lieutenant (2LT) Monti reported for duty with the 126th Replacement Depot in Karachi, India.6
Sometime after arriving in India, Monti decided to desert and defect to the Germans. On October 2, 1944, the now...