British Will Pardon Men Branded as Cowards in WW1

Families that fought for years to change the soldier's status are having their day.

All photos courtesy: chello.nl

(LONDON) - Private Harry Farr, shot for cowardice during the First World War, is to be granted a pardon posthumously. His pardon came as Des Browne, Minister of Defence, said all 306 soldiers executed during the First World War for cowardice and military offences would be issued a group pardon. Browne said that the Armed Forces Bill will be amended . "Although this is a historical matter, I am conscious of how the families of these men feel today. They have had to endure a stigma for decades. That makes this a moral issue too, and having reviewed it, I believe it is appropriate to seek a statutory pardon," he said. Private Farr's family have fought for 14 years to clear his name, arguing that the soldier, from Kensington in London, who was 25 years old when he was executed for refusing to fight, had shell shock. The term shell shock was the 20th Century's reference for what would later be known as "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" Young men fighting in the trenches of France and Belgium suffered immeasurable losses and were allowed no quarter if their nerve failed them. France committed similar acts against their troops as portrayed in the recent movie "A Very Long Engagement." American troops entered WW1 in 1917, saving England and France from the years long German offensive. In the process, England, France, Germany and other nations buried millions of their dead, literally. Russia lost so many soldiers that it needs its own story to even get into it.

Frezenberg September 1917 East Yorkshire regiment

Lyrics from "A Children's Crusade" by Sting Young men, soldiers, Nineteen Fourteen
Marching through countries they'd never seen
Virgins with rifles, a game of charades
All for a Children's Crusade Pawns in the game are not victims of chance
Strewn on the fields of Belgium and France
Poppies for young men, death's bitter trade
All of those young lives betrayed The children of England would never be slaves
They're trapped on the wire and dying in waves
The flower of England face down in the mud
And stained in the blood of a whole generation Corpulent generals safe behind lines
History's lessons drowned in red wine
Poppies for young men, death's bitter trade
All of those young lives betrayed
All for a Children's Crusade The children of England would never be slaves
They're trapped on the wire and dying in waves
The flower of England face down in the mud
And stained in the blood of a whole generation Midnight in Soho, Nineteen Eighty-four
Fixing in doorways, opium slaves
Poppies for young men, such bitter trade
All of those young lives betrayed
All for a Children's Crusade