31184 Private Leonard Mitchell
8th Bn York and Lancaster Regiment
Already under a suspended death sentence Mitchell went absent just before his unit went into battle. He was shot at dawn his family may not have been aware of his fate at the time.
Son of George Mitchell, of 74, Rawmarsh Rd, Rotherham, Yorks
His brother, William Henry also died on service. He is additionally commemorated on the The Shot at Dawn Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum near Alrewas, in Staffordshire, England, in memory of the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers executed after courts-martial for cowardice and desertion during World War I.The memorial portrays a young British soldier blindfolded and tied to a stake ready to be shot by a firing squad.
It is surrounded by a semicircle of stakes on which are listed the names of every soldier executed in this fashion.In 2007, the Armed Forces Act 2006 was passed allowing the soldiers to be pardoned, although section 359(4) of the act states that the pardon "does not affect any conviction or sentence." The real usual cause for their offences has been re-attributed in modern times to post-traumatic stress syndrome and combat stress reaction.
Soldiers accused of cowardice were often not given fair trials; they were often not properly defended, and some were under age.
8th Bn York and Lancaster Regiment
Already under a suspended death sentence Mitchell went absent just before his unit went into battle. He was shot at dawn his family may not have been aware of his fate at the time.
Son of George Mitchell, of 74, Rawmarsh Rd, Rotherham, Yorks
His brother, William Henry also died on service. He is additionally commemorated on the The Shot at Dawn Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum near Alrewas, in Staffordshire, England, in memory of the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers executed after courts-martial for cowardice and desertion during World War I.The memorial portrays a young British soldier blindfolded and tied to a stake ready to be shot by a firing squad.
It is surrounded by a semicircle of stakes on which are listed the names of every soldier executed in this fashion.In 2007, the Armed Forces Act 2006 was passed allowing the soldiers to be pardoned, although section 359(4) of the act states that the pardon "does not affect any conviction or sentence." The real usual cause for their offences has been re-attributed in modern times to post-traumatic stress syndrome and combat stress reaction.
Soldiers accused of cowardice were often not given fair trials; they were often not properly defended, and some were under age.
31184 Private Leonard Mitchell
8th Bn York and Lancaster Regiment
Already under a suspended death sentence Mitchell went absent just before his unit went into battle. He was shot at dawn his family may not have been aware of his fate at the time.
Son of George Mitchell, of 74, Rawmarsh Rd, Rotherham, Yorks
His brother, William Henry also died on service. He is additionally commemorated on the The Shot at Dawn Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum near Alrewas, in Staffordshire, England, in memory of the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers executed after courts-martial for cowardice and desertion during World War I.The memorial portrays a young British soldier blindfolded and tied to a stake ready to be shot by a firing squad.
It is surrounded by a semicircle of stakes on which are listed the names of every soldier executed in this fashion.In 2007, the Armed Forces Act 2006 was passed allowing the soldiers to be pardoned, although section 359(4) of the act states that the pardon "does not affect any conviction or sentence." The real usual cause for their offences has been re-attributed in modern times to post-traumatic stress syndrome and combat stress reaction.
Soldiers accused of cowardice were often not given fair trials; they were often not properly defended, and some were under age.
8th Bn York and Lancaster Regiment
Already under a suspended death sentence Mitchell went absent just before his unit went into battle. He was shot at dawn his family may not have been aware of his fate at the time.
Son of George Mitchell, of 74, Rawmarsh Rd, Rotherham, Yorks
His brother, William Henry also died on service. He is additionally commemorated on the The Shot at Dawn Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum near Alrewas, in Staffordshire, England, in memory of the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers executed after courts-martial for cowardice and desertion during World War I.The memorial portrays a young British soldier blindfolded and tied to a stake ready to be shot by a firing squad.
It is surrounded by a semicircle of stakes on which are listed the names of every soldier executed in this fashion.In 2007, the Armed Forces Act 2006 was passed allowing the soldiers to be pardoned, although section 359(4) of the act states that the pardon "does not affect any conviction or sentence." The real usual cause for their offences has been re-attributed in modern times to post-traumatic stress syndrome and combat stress reaction.
Soldiers accused of cowardice were often not given fair trials; they were often not properly defended, and some were under age.
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