Every soldier tells a story.
Twenty-five Canadian soldiers were executed for military offences in WW1 – court martialled and shot at dawn. Two were found guilty of murder, one of cowardice, 22 of desertion. Privates Côme Laliberté and James Wilson were both shot for desertion. They are buried side by side at Poperinghe New Military Cemetery.
Côme Laliberté was born in Lotbinière, Quebec in 1893. He signed up in March 1915 at Montreal and sailed overseas in May. His disciplinary records started before he left Canada, and continued overseas with fines for drunkenness and being AWOL. In January 1916, he was sentenced to seven days’ Field Punishment No 1*. On 25 July 1916, he was tried and convicted for desertion. While sentenced to be shot to death, the court “recommends the accused to mercy on account of ‘Previous good record in the trenches.’” The sentence was “duly carried out at 4.50 am on 4 August 1916.”
James Wilson was born in Limerick, Ireland in 1879. He signed up in September 1914 and sailed overseas the next month. He was discharged in February 1915 for being AWOL and then escaping capture, but reinstated in March. The disciplinary records continued: AWOL, drunkenness, abusive language, kicking an officer, escaping confinement, urinating in billets, wilful defiance. He was sentenced several times to Field Punishment No 1. One sentence for Imprisonment with Hard Labour was commuted to FP No 1. On 30 June 1916, he was tried and convicted for desertion and sentenced to be shot to death. “Sentence duly carried out at 4.20 am” on 9 July 1916.
We now know that desertion and cowardice was likely due to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). On 11 December 2001, the Canadian government announced that the names of the 23 soldiers shot for desertion or cowardice would be added to the WW1 Book of Remembrance. In 2007, the British government pardoned 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers shot for desertion or cowardice, although the sentences are not expunged.
*Field Punishment No 1: the subject is laced tightly by the ankles, knees and wrists to a pole leaning forward from perpendicular and left for two to four hours.
Thanks to Betsy, who wondered out loud about the Canadian experience when she saw the shot-at-dawn plotline in her pandemic rewatching of Downton Abbey.
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