From Mr John Hipkin Sir: As a British delegate to
the 'Unquiet Graves' conference on executed first world war soldiers, held in Ypres last month, I read with interest Col. John Hughes-Wil- son's article.
From the conference stage, and through- out the article, he, like so many of our par- liamentary politicians, neglected to men- tion three salient facts: a) That British army officers sentenced to death and supervised the dawn execu- tion of at least two 17-year-old under-age patriotic boy soldiers, who, lying about their ages, had enlisted at 16. They were Pte H.F. Burden 1/Northumberland Fusiliers and Pte H. Morris of the 6/British West Indies Regt.
b) That the Pardons Campaign does not seek pardons for mutineers, traitors or murderers. We seek pardons for 306 offi- cers and men executed in the first world war for a military capital offence abolished by Parliament in 1929 — a mere ten years after the Treaty of Versailles.
c) That the courts-martial files were kept secret for 75 years, thus preserving the anonymity of the courts-martial officers.
John Hipkin
c/o the Pardons Campaign, 45 Alderwood Crescent, Newcastle upon Tyne
Previous page
