geomacintyre
Posted: Mon May 01, 2017 3:52 pm
Last Saturday, the late George Macintyre, an Ardrossanite, and, until his passing last November, a “regular poster” on all matters military, was honoured at the Shot at Dawn Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, by the dedication of a memorial bench.
While President of the National Union of Journalists, George was a key figure in securing pardons for 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were shot a dawn during the first world war.
The plate on his bench reads:-
GEORGE MACINTYRE
Journalist and co-leader of Shot at Dawn, helped change history and lift a country’s shame from families of men and boys executed by their own side in WW1.
A friend of man, the friend of truth.
A photograph of the Shot at Dawn Monument is shown in the following link:-
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... morial.JPG
Some Shot at Dawn statistics and other information is included in this link:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_at_Dawn_Memorial
And at the end of the day the efforts of the Shot at Dawn Campaign would have been worthless but for the positive intervention of Des Browne, former Defence Secretary, Stevenstonian, and former pupil of St. Michael's Academy.
At the material time Mr. Browne said the following, and was as good as his word:-
"Although this is a historical matter, I am conscious of how the families of these men feel today.
"They have had to endure a stigma for decades. That makes this a moral issue too, and having reviewed it, I believe it is appropriate to seek a statutory pardon.
"I hope we can take the earliest opportunity to achieve this by introducing a suitable amendment to the current Armed Forces Bill.
"I believe a group pardon, approved by Parliament, is the best way to deal with this. After 90 years, the evidence just doesn't exist to assess all the cases individually.
"I do not want to second guess the decisions made by commanders in the field, who were doing their best to apply the rules and standards of the time.
"But the circumstances were terrible, and I believe it is better to acknowledge that injustices were clearly done in some cases, even if we cannot say which - and to acknowledge that all these men were victims of war."
While President of the National Union of Journalists, George was a key figure in securing pardons for 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were shot a dawn during the first world war.
The plate on his bench reads:-
GEORGE MACINTYRE
Journalist and co-leader of Shot at Dawn, helped change history and lift a country’s shame from families of men and boys executed by their own side in WW1.
A friend of man, the friend of truth.
A photograph of the Shot at Dawn Monument is shown in the following link:-
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... morial.JPG
Some Shot at Dawn statistics and other information is included in this link:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_at_Dawn_Memorial
And at the end of the day the efforts of the Shot at Dawn Campaign would have been worthless but for the positive intervention of Des Browne, former Defence Secretary, Stevenstonian, and former pupil of St. Michael's Academy.
At the material time Mr. Browne said the following, and was as good as his word:-
"Although this is a historical matter, I am conscious of how the families of these men feel today.
"They have had to endure a stigma for decades. That makes this a moral issue too, and having reviewed it, I believe it is appropriate to seek a statutory pardon.
"I hope we can take the earliest opportunity to achieve this by introducing a suitable amendment to the current Armed Forces Bill.
"I believe a group pardon, approved by Parliament, is the best way to deal with this. After 90 years, the evidence just doesn't exist to assess all the cases individually.
"I do not want to second guess the decisions made by commanders in the field, who were doing their best to apply the rules and standards of the time.
"But the circumstances were terrible, and I believe it is better to acknowledge that injustices were clearly done in some cases, even if we cannot say which - and to acknowledge that all these men were victims of war."