217856 Pte. Bertie McCubbin British Army 17th Btn Sherwood Foresters (d.30th Jul 1916) Bertie McCubbin served with the Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment) 17th Battalion. HE died on Sunday 30th July 1916, ageD 22, and was buried in Brown's Road Military Cemetery, Festubert, Pas de Calais, France in Plot 5. B. 16.. He was one of the 306 British Soldiers "shot at dawn" - found guilty of cowardice during a court martial and sentenced to death by firing squad.
Bertie McCubbin was executed at dawn after disobeying orders to man a listening post in no-man's land. 'I cannot do so,' he told the officer. 'My nerves won't let me; if I go over I shall be a danger to the other man who is out there, as well as to myself.'
In June 2001, a National "Shot at Dawn" Memorial was unveiled at Alrewas, Staffordshire, which takes the form of 306 stakes driven into the ground which resemble the posts to which men were tied before being shot. Each stake bears a metal plaque bearing the deserter's name, age, rank and date of death.
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