During the first world war hundreds of soldiers, many of them teenage volunteers, were shot by firing squad for cowardice or desertion. Chloe Dewe Mathews’s photographs of the mostly forgotten sites of their execution provide a poignant memorial of their tragic fate
James Crozier was 16 when he presented himself at his local army recruiting office in Belfast in September 1914. He was accompanied by his mother, Elizabeth, who tried in vain to prevent him enlisting. The recruiting officer, who also happened to be called Crozier, assured her he would look out for her son and "would see that no harm comes to him".
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SOURCE: Photography | The Guardian – Read entire story here.