Honour the men shot at dawn
If the British cause in 1914 was just, then all those who enlisted (volunteers in 1914, and in Ireland volunteers throughout the duration of the war) are to be honoured.
How can we fight for justice in the world when we fail to treat justly those who fight on our behalf?
The treatment of these young men is a stain not on their characters but on the British conduct of the war. That stain can at once be removed by a gracious apology for past error.
We should not expect these young men (and their families) to accept the blame for the shortcomings of those with greater authority.
The indomitable John Hipkin launched the Shot At Dawn Pardons Campaign in 1990 for posthumous pardons for all British, Irish and Commonwealth troops executed for (alleged) battlefield offences and sentenced to death by courts martial on a hasty and inadequate review of those offences.
He has been sustained in his endeavours by the certain knowledge of the justice of his cause and it is time now for us to recognise wholeheartedly the merits of the case that he has unflaggingly represented to the world. It is in all our interests that we should do so.
John Hipkin invited me to join him last Sunday at Westminster in the march past the cenotaph to honour these young men (as indeed we honoured all those who sacrificed their lives on our behalf). I was proud to do so. In particular I marched to honour the 26 young Irishmen in that number on whose behalf Peter Mulvany of the Shot At dawn Campaign Ireland has made such heroic efforts. These were men drawn from all parts of unpartitioned Ireland, and I hope that it will be possible in 2005 for all of us on this island to honour them without divisions.
Gerald Morgan
School of English
Trinity College
Dublin 2
