it looks like the 300+ English soldiers shot during WWI by their own side for alleged cowardice and desertion will finally be given a pardon. It's is shocking it has taken this long for this to happen. So many times it appears the men were suffering from shell shock and suffering mental trauma after witnessing the death of so many friends and colleagues. Finally the Defence Secretary Des Brown is doing what his pathetic fellow Labour MPs Geoff Hoon and John Reid failed to do when they had the chance as DS.
Of course the hidden stories also reveal a more frightening thing. The men were by and large all ordinary soldiers. Only three officers were executed. The men were usually shot as "an example to others" and their court martials were usually over within 30 minutes with the men refused defense lawyers or even the chance to have a friend to speak for them. The Shot At Dawn campaign website highlights several cases which linger in the mind as truly chilling.
Thomas Highgate was 18 when he became the first British soldier to be shot for desertion 35 days into the war. He had been involved in the Battle of Mons and had been so affected by the carnage he hid in a barn. He was undefended at his trial because all his regiment had been killed, wounded or captured.
Aged only 16, Herbert Burdon from Lewisham was too young to join up so he lied and said he was 18. Ten months later he was court-martialled for leaving his post when he went to comfort a friend whose brother had been killed. His unit had been ordered to the front just before he left. He was found guilty of desertion and shot aged 17, still technically too young to even be in his regiment, probably as a warning to his unit which had already had two deserters .
Harry Farr was a former soldier from Kensington when he signed up leaving a wife and one year-old daughter. After having survived the horrors of the Somme and Neuve Chapelle he collapsed in 1915 and 1916 with jangled nerves and spent 5 months in a field hospital so traumatised his letters home were written by nurses. In September 1916 he again broke down and while attempting to seek treatment refused to return to the trenches as he said he could not bear the sound of the artilery. He was charged with Cowardice and was shot the following morning. He was 25. His wife was deprived of his state pension, was turned out of their home and had to find work in service. She died in 1993 aged 99 having been denied the chance of her husband's name being cleared by then Prime Minister John Major. His daughter aged 93 hopefully will live on to see it soon.
1 comment:
That's quite touching. I saw but didn't read the news reports.
My Granda survived the trenches but his family was decimated. He lost an arm and won medals. His brothers died. He never spoke about the war until the last few years of his life - it was too horrible. He used to tell me stories in Blaydon Social Club when I visited him. For some reason he only spoke to me about the past.
I need to research his past - I think there are photos of him in Gateshead Library. And I need to track down the news articles about Hitler trying to kill him.
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