218159 Pte. Patrick Murphy British Army 47th Btn. Machine Gun Corps from:Dublin (d.12th Sep 1918) Patrick Murphy was executed for desertion 12/09/1918 and buried in Sandpits British Cemetery, Fouquereuil, France.
Patrick Murphy, a private in the 47th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, was just minutes away from his appointment with a firing squad. It was the morning of 12th September 1918. World War I had only a couple of grim months left in it. Murphy, a Dublin native, had thus far avoided German bullets. He was not going to be so lucky with the British ones.
Murphy had been sentenced to death by a British army courts martial for desertion. The word “desertion†was afforded a broad definition during the war to end all wars. It didn’t necessarily mean that the accused had physically fled the place of battle. It could mean that a soldier had, for whatever reason, failed to take part in an operation. Not infrequently, soldiers did not refuse. They were simply unable to do much of anything because of fear, fatigue and shell shock, known more commonly these days as post-traumatic stress disorder. The war to end all wars had indeed been a particularly stressful and traumatic conflict. For countless soldiers on both sides there was nothing post about their trauma and stress. It was all too concurrent.
Murphy’s trauma that September morning can only be imagined. As dawn broke, his eyes were covered. The last sounds he heard were prayers from a chaplain, crisply delivered orders and a volley of rifle shots.
Murphy was the last of 26 Irish soldiers, all volunteers, executed by the British army during the four years of war. Most were shot for desertion.
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