BBC News says that a decision on a soldier who was executed for cowardice will be made some time tomorrow. His 93-year-old grand-daughter has been told by her solicitors that he will be pardoned. She said the family had always believed he had been suffering from shellshock after two years in the trenches.

The BBC also says that a minister is looking into pardoning all the soldiers excecuted for cowardice. And in my opinion it’s not before time.

What do forumers think?

About time. It is now acknowledged that PTSD is common amongst soldiers exposed to battle - the loss of their comrades, the shell fire, and danger to their own lives. One organisation picking up the pieces today is Combat Stress. See the website www.combatstress.org.uk.

My father suffered low-level mental health problems as a result of his experiences in WWII, and his children suffered the loss of the father they might have had.

I've never really understood why they didn't do this years ago as it doesn't really make much difference to the vast amjority of us but does make the odd old lady a bit happier. It is very likely that many of the men weren't cowards, but what difference does it make 90 years later if they were?

It was of course different times, the days of Empire and the stiff upper lip, with no understanding by the higher up staff of the ways war had changed. One can therefore understand how those decisions were taken at the time. Personally I don't think the term "pardon" should be used, it still implies that there was some offence on the soldiers' part which must be forgiven. Instead they should be completely exonerated of all blame. If anyone needs a pardon (which they should not get) it is the people who sent them into those conditions in the first place without adequate enquiry into the likely results of being exposed to such intense bombardment.

BBC News says that a decision on a soldier who was executed for cowardice will be made some time tomorrow. His 93-year-old grand-daughter has been told by her solicitors that he will be pardoned. She said the family had always believed he had been suffering from shellshock after two years in the trenches.

The BBC also says that a minister is looking into pardoning all the soldiers excecuted for cowardice. And in my opinion it’s not before time.

What do forumers think?

Totally agree.
It is suprising that it is only happening now ,all those mainly young men, shot at dawn.

Also, in today's forces, soldiers, sailors etc are 'volunteers', i.e. they have in some respects chosen their vocation; in WWI and WWII they were (mostly) conscripts and had no choice at all.

About time!

Ironically, the officers (upper classes) of the day who ''lost it'' were sent back to blighty to some convalescent home.

These men weren't shot for cowardice, they were murdered to set an example to their peers. Simple as.

I've never really understood why they didn't do this years ago as it doesn't really make much difference to the vast amjority of us but does make the odd old lady a bit happier. It is very likely that many of the men weren't cowards, but what difference does it make 90 years later if they were?

I can understand your point and in many respects agree with it. A pardon — a better word being ‘exonerated’ as Walthof suggests — makes no difference to most people after 90 years, unless of course you happen to be an elderly relative.

To be convicted of cowardice in the armed forces during 1914-1918 was to put it mildly a ‘disgrace’, not only to the person involved but also to his or her family. My own opinion is that during war service the comradeship of service personnel is such that cowardice does not exist.

It’s a comradeship similar to that when you’re working underground at a colliery. If you’re injured by a fall of rock or coal, nobody, no matter how afraid they may be, is going to leave you to fend for yourself. They may be afraid, but you they’ll not show it. It’s the same in the forces.

There is no real point to a pardon — except that the Government in this instance and to its credit, recognises that a previous government and its army generals made a terrible mistake; a mistake that only a Full Pardon can now rectify.

I don’t know how those alleged cowards’ bodies were disposed of, but I assume they were not given the burial that they deserved. We’ll have to wait and see, and hope that a full military service will be given to them, if their bodies were buried in military cemeteries, if their headstones carry any hint of cowardice they will be altered accordingly.

this is good news long overdue as a history anorak tracing my family tree these young men gave their lives for us and their families deserve the peace of mind finally. War is a terrible evil in our society.

From the Beeb

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4796579.stm

not before time!