During the First World War, there were over 300 executions carried out of British Army soldiers and Commonwealth soldiers found guilty of desertion, cowardice of military offences. Today these executions attract a huge degree of criticism as the British Army had no time for people with conditions such as Shell Shock. But shockingly there was one 17 year old boy who was 'Shot at Dawn' for his desertion, and he should never have been on the front line in the trenches. Herbert Burden signed up to join the fight in the First World War, despite being 3 years too young. Recruitment officials asked no questions and he was then sent to fight.

But during the conflict, Herbert Burden deserted a number of times from the fight. He even left his own unit briefly and returned to England, before signing up with a different one. But after fighting on the Ypres Salient, Herbert Burden deserted and he was arrested the following day. He was placed on trial, but at no point he mentioned that he was in fact 17 and 2 years too young to be fighting during World War One in the British Army. Burden was sentenced to death, and he was then 'Shot at Dawn,' by a firing squad and is remembered as the youngest person executed by the British Army. He is commemorated today in the Shot At Dawn Memorial in a statue.

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