HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE at http://cbc.ca/news ____________________________________________________ OTTAWA OFFERS 'DIGNITY' TO EXECUTED SOLDIERS http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/12/11/soldiers_execute011211 WebPosted Tue Dec 11 19:30:04 2001 OTTAWA--The Canadian government says it is sorry that 23 young men who volunteered to fight in the First World War were executed for cowardice or desertion, but it won't grant them pardons. Minister of Veterans Affairs Ronald Duhamel told the House of Commons on Tuesday that 23 soldiers in the Canadian Expeditionary Force were "lawfully executed." But he said they were likely victims more than cowards. "For some, it may have been what we today call post-traumatic stress disorder," he said. Duhamel said the government wanted to recognize them as young men who had volunteered to take their place among the nearly 650,000 Canadians who fought in the war. More than one in 10 of those Canadians who went to the fields of France are buried there. Among them, the 23 executed. "I wish to express my deep sorrow at their loss of life, not because of what they did or didn't do, but because they too lie in foreign fields where poppies blow amid the crosses, row on row," Duhamel said, alluding to John McRae's powerful poem "In Flanders Fields." Reading out their names in Parliament, and promising to add them to the First World War Book of Remembrance was intended to give the soldiers dignity, and closure to their families. But some families were hoping Canada would follow New Zealand's lead, and pardon the soldiers. A spokesperson for Duhamel's office said it couldn't be done, there just isn't enough information available. ____________________ Copyright © 2000 CBC All Rights Reserved http://cbc.ca/ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
