Shot at dawnWar pardons gallery |  | Grave of the unknown soldier | |
The name of Herbert Burden has recently been added to the Menin Gate. It was the story of this 17-year-old Northumberland Fusilier, who was shot as a deserter, that started John's Hipkin's campaign for the WW1 victims to be pardoned by the British Government. Inside Out Presenter, Dan Ainsleigh was given a moving family account by Nora High whose Uncle Billy Nelson was shot at dawn aged just 19 years. Haigh's homeTo fill in the background Dan Ainsleigh, and John Hipkin visited Douglas Scott, grandson of Field Marshal Haigh, at his family home in the Scottish Borders. It was Field Marshal Haigh who signed the death warrants of the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers shot at dawn by their comrades. Many of those assigned to the firing squads carried their horror for the rest of their lives. Belgian odysseyJohn Hipkin and reporter Dan Ainsleigh took the ferry to Belgium eventually arriving in Ypres. Dan Ainsleigh and John Hipkin visited Tyne Cot, the biggest Common Wealth Graveyard in the world, located on the outskirts of Ypres. They were moved by the mass of graves; the tethering post where soldiers were shot in the Belgian town of Poperinge. Poppies had been laid in the cells where "deserters" spent their last night before execution. Pardons announcedThe Government has recently announced that more than 300 British soldiers who were shot during World War I for military offences are to receive formal pardons. Defence Secretary Des Browne said he would be seeking a parliamentary group pardon for the men, executed for offences such as cowardice and Dan Ainsleigh and John Hipkin visited the Menin Gate in Ypres where First World War soldiers are remembered by names on the walls. It was on the Menin Gate that the name of Herbert Burden had recently been inscribed.
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Inside Out - North East: Monday October 9, 2006
