Monti, Martin James, 1921-2000

Born Martin James Monti in St. Louis, Missouri, he enlisted into the Army Air Force in 1941, and was commissioned as a Flight Officer (Warrent Officer), and trained to fly P-39 Aircobra fighter aircraft. He later qualified on the P-38 Lightning fighter, was promoted to Second Lieutenant, and sent to Karachi, India. Attached to the 126th Replacement Depot as a replacement pilot, he was promoted to First Lieutenant, when he decided to desert to Germany. Hitching a ride on a C-46 to Cairo, Egype, he travelled to Tripoli, Libya, newly freed from Axis control, and in early 1944, hitched a ride to Foggia Air Base, Italy, then in Allied hands. From Foggia, he made his way to Pomigliano Airfield, north of Naples, where he stole a P-38 from the 354th Air Service Squadron which repaired damaged aircraft for return to fighter units. Once airborne, he flew to Milan, in northern Italy, then still in Axis hands, where he surrendered the aircraft, and defected to Germany. He would then make propaganda radio broadcasts against the Allies, under the pseudonym of "Captain Martin Wiethaupt." At the end of 1944, he decided to join the Waffen SS, and was promoted to SS-Untersturmfuehrer (Staff Sergeant), and wrote propaganda leaflets to be dropped on Allied troops and distributed to captured Allied POWs. At the end of the war, he surrendered to the Americans still in his SS uniform, and convinced them he was an escaping American POW. In 1946, he was courtmartialed for desertion, reduced to Private, and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but was pardoned on condition that he rejoin the Army and serve out his term of service. Promoted to Sergeant, he was arrested in 1948 when military intelligence discovered his propaganda activities and SS-Rank. Charged with treason, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and was paroled in 1960, to return to Missouri. He spent the remainder of his life living a quiet life and staying out of trouble, eventually dying in Missouri.

Martin James Monti (October 24, 1921 – September 11, 2000) was a United States Army Air Forces pilot who defected to the Axis powers in October 1944 and worked as a propaganda broadcaster and writer. After the end of World War II, he was tried and sentenced for desertion; he was then pardoned but subsequently tried for treason and sentenced to 25 years.