Tom Carter is fictitious, but he stands for the three hundred and six soldiers of the British Army who were shot at dawn during the First World War for alleged desertion, cowardice, or for refusing to carry out an order. Little account was taken of medical conditions such as shell shock; courts martial were brief and the executions were used as a deterrent to other would-be deserters as much as for a punishment for the alleged offence.
The Shot at Dawn Campaign for posthumous pardons for these men has been growing steadily. The government still refuses to pardon the men, many of them only boys in their teens when they were shot. It maintains you cannot rewrite history, but the campaigners are undeterred. They fight on. History, they say, is continually being rewritten as new evidence emerges. Evidence of these executions was kept secret for seventy-five years, but now it has been released action should be taken to put right an undoubted wrong.
Many of the regiments from which the men came have reinstated their names to their regimental Rolls of Honour. It is now time for a government which supported the campaign whilst in opposition to follow the government of New Zealand and grant pardons to these men. They died for their country as surely as did the men who went over the top.
For more information about the campaign visit:—
or contact
John Hipkin
45 Alderwood Crescent
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
NE6 4TT
Since the first edition of this book, The Shot at Dawn Campaign has now achieved its aim and the 306 men who were executed between 1914 and 1918 are to be pardoned.
“The campaign for posthumous pardons has been rejected by the Ministry of Defence for no other reason then their belief that without the power to kill British Troops who cannot stand the strain it would not be possible to force them to kill the enemy.”
Tony Benn