Britain to pardon WWI soldiers Tue Aug 15, 6:16 PM ET

LONDON - British soldiers who were executed by the military for cowardice during World War I will be pardoned, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday, following a lengthy campaign by the family of one such soldier.

Defense Secretary Des Browne said the government would seek parliamentary approval to issue pardons for the 306 soldiers who were executed.

The decision comes after a public effort by the family of a 25-year-old Pvt. Harry Farr who was shot by firing squad in 1916 after he refused to return to the frontlines.

Relatives, who have battled for decades to clear Farr's name, said their lawyers had received the news from the government.

"We are over the moon," said Farr's granddaughter, Janet Booth.

The decision is part of a wider decision to seek pardons for more than soldiers who were executed for cowardice during World War I, the Defense Ministry said.

Farr was shot at dawn in October 1916. Many of those executed are believed to have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of trench warfare.

The government has expressed regret for the executions in recent years, but has rejected several campaigns to have the soldiers officially pardoned, arguing it is no longer possible to determine their guilt or innocence.

Farr's daughter, Gertrude Harris, went to the High Court last year to press the case for a pardon, arguing that Farr had been diagnosed as suffering from shell shock a year before he was executed.

"I am so relieved that this ordeal is now over and I can be content knowing that my father's memory is intact," 93-year-old Harris said in a statement.

"I hope that others now who had brave relatives who were shot by their own side will now get the pardons they equally deserve," she said.

More than 703,000 British soldiers were killed in World War I, while 1.6 million were
wounded.


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A little late, I'd say.

This is in my opinion rather a pointless thing to do - as you say it is rather late.

It is good for the decendants I suppose in that it removes some sort of shame from their faimilies , but apart from that it does nothing.

The government here is getting rather desparate because hardly any one wants them in power anymore - they don't seem capable of doing anything useful , and have resorted to things like this to show that they can do something.

well,i agree it's late..
the PBI was horrible.up in the air you would've known that either you live or you die,but down there,it was hell.i saw a documentary and a soldier described having to defend a position in mud up to his chest