But her grief worsened when she read that he had been executed for cowardice. Several successive governments have refused requests from Farr`s family and others to pardon their loved ones and honor them and the rest of the soldiers killed in World War I. Finally, in August 2006, after a 14-year struggle, the British High Court pardoned Farr; Hours after informing Farr`s family of its verdict, the government announced it would seek parliamentary approval to pardon the 306 soldiers executed for cowardice during World War I. Between 1914 and 1918, the British Army identified 80,000 men with what would now be defined as symptoms of grenade shock. There were those who suffered a severe grenade shock. They could no longer bear the thought of being at the front and deserted. As soon as they were arrested, they were court-martialed and, if sentenced to death, shot by a firing squad of twelve men. „I think it comes from idiocy and cowardice,” Whedon said of the superhero problem. This is just one of many stories whose life on Capitol Hill has been endangered by lies, threats, and violence fueled by the cowardice of people who prioritized personal gain over democracy.
Whatever a man who did not want to be suspected of cowardice could offer, he offered without reservation. Eight decades after the end of the First World War, the 306 British soldiers shot for desertion are still dishonoured, still ashamed, still the object of official disapproval by Her Majesty`s Government. To this day, the Ministry of Defense refuses to pardon the 306 convicts for cowardice, even though people knew all about „grenade shock” as early as 1914 – what the modern world calls post-traumatic stress disorder. In October 1916, Gertrude Batstone received a telegram informing her of her husband`s death. But her grief was exacerbated when she read that he had been executed for cowardice. Success lies in examining what can only be assumed in the recognition of a culture of cowardice and a kind of toxic racism, self-celebration and righteousness. The Defense Department resisted calls for a collective pardon for years, but in 2006, then-Secretary of Defense Des Browne announced that the 306 executed men would be formally acquitted of cowardice charges. But Boehner and the Republicans refused, completely out of cowardice and to defy Obama. They have opted for cowardice – and their behaviour since Friday shows that they know it. Acts of cowardice have long been punishable under military law, which defines a wide range of cowardly crimes, including desertion to the enemy and surrender to the enemy against orders. The penalties for such acts are generally severe, ranging from corporal punishment to the death penalty.
The court martial lasted 20 minutes. Farr defended himself. The decent doctor who first took him to the hospital had been injured and could not defend him. General Sir John Haig – one of the donkeys who led the lions – signed his death warrant. Farr was shot at dawn on October 16, 1916. Only a few soldiers wanted to be in a firing squad. Many were soldiers at a base camp who were recovering from wounds that still prevented them from fighting at the front, but did not prevent them from firing a Lee Enfield rifle. Some firing squads were under sixteen, as were others shot for „cowardice.” James Crozier of Belfast was shot dead at dawn for desertion – he was only sixteen years old.
Before his execution, Crozier received so much rum that he fainted. He had to be transported half-unconscious to the place of execution. The officers present at the execution later claimed that there was a very real fear that the men of the firing squad would not obey the order to fire. Sixteen-year-old Private Abe Bevistein was also shot dead by firing squad in Labourse, near Calais. As in so many other cases, he was found guilty of leaving office. Shortly before his court-martial, Bevistein wrote to his mother: For years, I continued to flip the details of my attack in my head, remembering the faces of the spectators, and explaining the mob`s inaction in a secular version of the spectator effect—as collective helplessness, collective cowardice. The stigma attached to cases of cowardice during World War I was so great that towns, villages and churches later erected monuments, their names were omitted by executed deserters. In fact, his act of bravery and defiance in his final moments contrasted sharply with the alleged cowardice for which his superiors had had him shot.
During the First World War, 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers were executed. Such executions for crimes such as desertion and cowardice remain a source of controversy, with some believing that many of those executed should be pardoned because they suffered what is now known as the grenade shock. Among the executions, mainly non-commissioned officers, 25 Canadians, 22 Irish and 5 New Zealanders. In the end, he told the general to shoot himself for his cowardice. Private Harry Farr, shot dead at dawn in October 1916 at the age of 25, was never recognized alongside fallen men in World War I because he was considered a deserter. Rob Portman`s cowardice has hurt the Republican Party – and the Republic – more than Marjorie Taylor Greene`s madness. Farr was one of 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers executed for cowardice during the First World War. According to his descendants, who fought a long battle to clear his name, Farr suffered a severe shell shock, a condition that had only just been recognized at the time, and had been damaged both physically and mentally by his combat experience, especially the repeated heavy shelling that he and his comrades on the front side. Symptoms of „grenade shock” – a term first used in 1917 by a military doctor named Charles Myers – included debilitating anxiety, persistent nightmares, and physical ailments ranging from diarrhea to vision loss.
At the end of the First World War, the British Army was forced to treat 80,000 cases of the disease, including soldiers who had never been subjected to direct bombing. Despite the treatment, only a fifth of the affected men returned to military service. An analysis of how both sides deal with desertion and cowardice This is not for weak beings who enter into a composition with guilt and cover selfishness and cowardice with the name of prudence. Admiral Byng was later shot dead in England on an unwarranted charge of cowardice in the case. But when I look over the crowd now, I also see that they are trapped – trapped in their cowardice. Documents released under the 75-year rule belie the last point. Soldiers accused of cowardice did not receive fair trials; Often they were not properly defended. The evidence against them was often contradictory. Tom Stones` great-uncle, Sergeant Will Stones of the Durham Light Infantry, was shot for desertion, but any reading of the documents shows that no court would have convicted him today. Instead, he probably would have gotten a medal. He blocked the trench with a built-in rifle on the orders of Major Bernard Montgomery.
For this, he was found guilty of „shamefully throwing his gun in front of the enemy”. Six years later, 306 British or Empire soldiers executed for cowardice or desertion (but not those guilty of mutiny or murder) received a general pardon.