Deserters should pay the price for leaving down their country

THE statement by Gary W Adams of Dallas, USA (Irish heroes of WW II deserve to be pardoned, July 2) that soldiers who had deserted the Irish Army had been “court-martialled” for fighting against the Nazis and Japan during WW II, is incorrect.

These men were in fact court-martialled for the offence of deserting their national army, which is a crime under military law and standard practice in every army in the world.

May I draw Mr Adams’ attention to the penalty for army desertion in the United States from where he writes, Article 85 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ); Desertion; Any member of the armed forces found guilty of desertion or attempt to desert shall be punished, if the offence is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.