As First Lieutenant Martin James Monti hitchhiked his way to Naples
during the last stretches of World War 2, he knew there was no turning back.
The 22-year-old officer was determined, and eventually made his way to the Pomigliano
Airfield, lied to the officers in charge, and basically stole a Lockheed F-5E Lightning.
He then flew into German-occupied Milan and joined the Nazis as a propagandist and writer.
During the war, it was not unusual for Americans of European descent
to turn against their native country, and Monti’s extremist and isolationist
upbringing probably convinced him it was the right thing to do.
However, as the end of the war approached and Germany was losing,
Monti had to make a fateful decision: whether to stay with the Nazis and risk being arrested
or continue to test the limits of his lying capabilities with the US Army...
Blossoming Youth
Martin James Monti was born in 1921 in Saint Louis, one of seven children of hard-working
immigrants. His parents were born in America, but his father’s family was
from the Italian side of Switzerland, while his mother was of German blood.
Monti was raised Catholic in an environment later
described as fervently religious and with isolationist sentiments.
In that regard, they actively opposed President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal economic program.
During the 1930s, the now 6-foot 2-inch tall young man became an enthusiastic anti-communist lad.
He was also a fanatical follower of Charles Coughlin, a famous Catholic priest known
as “Radio Priest” who had a weekly radio program with tens of millions of listeners.
The priest was known for his antisemitism as well as being anti-communist.
Furthermore, Father Coughlin had such a bigoted pro-fascist and pro-Nazi agenda
that the Vatican was forced to silence him at the request of the American Catholic hierarchy.
In fact, the then-Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, who would become Pope Pius XII,
cooperated to mitigate the situation.
Shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack, Monti registered for the draft. He then
visited his idol in Detroit, although the nature of the visit is unknown. However,
it is safe to presume Coughlin encouraged his impressionable acolyte to support
Germany instead of the dreaded Roosevelt government, which had forced him off the air.
Monti first attempted to enlist with the Navy, where his four brothers would serve
honorably. But in November of 1942, he became an aviation cadet in the US Army Air Forces.
After qualifying as a fighter pilot on the P-39 Airacobra and the P-38 Lightning
and being promoted to Second Lieutenant in the summer of 1944, he was sent to Karachi in India,
now Pakistan. He then earned his rank as a First Lieutenant with the 126th Replacement Depot.
A few weeks before turning 23, Monti took a trip that would change the course of his life.
On October 1, 1944, he hitched a ride from India to Cairo, Egypt. The young
man was wearing his American uniform and had no official travel orders, but took advantage
of either the laxness or gullibility of the American military personnel he encountered.
While in Cairo, he secured another passage to Tripoli
in Libya and then talked his way into a third plane bound for Naples, Italy.
Eastern Naples was under Allied control by then, and Monti got to the USAAF’s 82nd Fighter Group
at the Foggia Airfield Complex. He then requested a transfer and combat assignment,
but the commanding officer turned him down.
However, the astute officer had a backup plan and headed straight to the Pomigliano
Airfield north of Naples, where the 354th Air Service Squadron repaired and tested aircraft.
On October 13, Monti impersonated a fighter pilot from the 82nd
and got himself a Lockheed F-5E Lightning, the photo-reconnaissance version of the P-38.
With the facade of carrying out a test flight, Monti changed course to Milan,
which was still in the hands of the Axis powers.
As Monti landed in a small grass airstrip, he was taken into custody by the Germans.
True Colors
Despite his insistent claims that he wanted to serve the Reich, Monti was given the same
treatment as any ordinary prisoner of war and was sent to a camp after interrogating him.
On the other hand, the Lightning was received with delight and
promptly stripped of its insignias and decorated with swastikas instead.
The day after he arrived in Milan, an arrest order for Monti was issued through American channels
and intercepted by the Germans, who were now convinced of his legitimate defection.
In November, Monti was sent to Berlin,
where he joined the SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers propaganda unit. The Germans hoped Monti would
be as appealing a radio propagandist as his fellow countryman, Howard Marggraff.
For anonymity, the Germans changed Monti’s name to Martin Roberts. Unsatisfied with the idea, Martin
used his mother’s maiden name, believing he could be identified if he was captured or shot. He also
inflated his rank and created a personality named “Captain Martin Wiethaupt” for dramatic purposes.
The officer did radio broadcasts from 1944 to early 1945 and even came into
contact with the infamous Mildred Gillars, the American defector known as “Axis Sally.”
However, Gillars despised him the moment they made eye contact and went to her supervisor to
give him an ultimatum: (QUOTE) "That man is a spy or a traitor, either he must go
or I will." As she was turned down, she said: (QUOTE) "Then I've made my last broadcast."
Monti’s material was broadcast to Germans and Americans in the European Theater.
His indoctrination as a child became evident as he voiced his firm opinion
that the United States should be fighting alongside the Germans instead of allying
with the Soviets, who he thought were: (QUOTE) “The true enemy of world peace.”
Moreover, he assured his listeners that the war was an evil plot devised
by the Communists to enslave the entire world.
However, as time went by, Monti proved to be an incompetent announcer
lacking ability and experience. He was dismissed after a few broadcasts,
and Gillars was consequently reassigned.
In the aftermath, Monti was tasked with writing
propaganda pamphlets handed out to American prisoners of war.
Monti would officially join the Waffen-SS later on, where he was given the rank of
SS-Untersturmführer. This was a demotion, the equivalent of a Second Lieutenant.
By April of 1945, Germany required every available man to fight on the battlefront,
and Monti was sent to Northern Italy.
However, shortly after his arrival on May 10, Germany had already lost the war.
While still wearing his German uniform, Monti surrendered to the US Fifth Army in Milan
and managed to convince the American military that he had gone absent without official leave
and kidnapped the aircraft only because he planned to wage a one-man war against the Germans.
He then claimed to have been shot down and to have
received help from Italian partisans to escape with a Waffen-SS uniform.
No Treasonable Intent
The American officers did not recognize Monti’s deception at first, and he was charged with being
AWOL and misappropriation of government property. He was then sentenced to 15 years of hard labor,
but served only a few months before receiving a pardon from President Harry Truman.
Monti then reenlisted as a private with the Army Air Forces in 1946,
and within two years, he had climbed to the rank of sergeant.
In the meantime, evidence of his actual actions was uncovered. An Army Criminal Investigation
Officer responsible for Monti’s case tipped off Washington Post columnist Drew Pearson,
who broke the story in November of 1947. A major investigation was then opened.
On January 26, 1948, the Army granted the then-sergeant an honorable discharge
at New York’s Mitchell Field. However, he was seized by the FBI within minutes
and charged with treason for propaganda activities performed under the pseudonym of Martin Wiethaupt.
Despite his superior intelligence and IQ of over 130, Monti showed signs of immaturity,
obsessive-compulsive behavior, and paranoid tendencies,
not to mention his inherent narcissism. Still, he was deemed fit to stand trial
by a team of psychiatrists and psychologists, who concluded that he was not mentally ill.
Monti was indicted for 21 overt acts of treason, with a minimum
penalty of 5 years and a 10,000-dollar fine, or a maximum sentence of death.
Set to begin on January 17, 1949, Monti’s trial took an unexpected
turn. Even though witnesses were flown from across the Atlantic to testify against him,
the defendant pleaded guilty to all charges.
The New York Times reported that Monti took the stand and confessed in open court,
answering all the questions: (QUOTE) “Calmly in the affirmative.” As he assured the court
that he had acted voluntarily, the judge claimed: (QUOTE) “That’s enough for me.”
The defense attorney engaged in a futile plea for leniency,
appealing to a sense of compassion given Monti’s extreme upbringing,
where he was fanatically conditioned to perceive Communism as America’s principal enemy.
However, as the prosecutor claimed: (QUOTE) “This man did everything he could to commit treason;
he left no stone unturned.”
Monti was given a sentence of 25 years in prison,
plus a fine of 10,000 dollars, and was sent to the Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Two years later, he tried to appeal the verdict arguing that he had not acted
with treasonable intent. Furthermore, he insisted his attorneys had pressured him to plead guilty.
But the court reaffirmed the sentence.
Then, in 1958, he appealed for the second time, claiming that: (QUOTE) “The court which
pronounced the sentence which the defendant is now serving was without jurisdiction.”
Declined again, Monti continued to abide by the sentence imposed on him until paroled in 1960.
After serving only 11 years out of the original 25, he returned to his natal
Missouri and lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the rest of his life.
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