World war crime - Anzac soldier executed during the Great War

A shorter podcast then others looking at cases of crime from ww1

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

World War Crime. This is a short little snippet of a podcast, a little series I fancy doing for a little while, to tell you some of the crimes that occurred during the First World War, how it affected soldiers on the Western Front, and what happened to them afterwards. I'd like to thank the British Newspaper Archives, Ancestry.com, the Commonwealth War Graves, and several other platforms to do so. So this will be a little podcast on a Friday afternoon you might want to listen to on the way home. The short, sharp, sweet stories about soldiers during the Great War, and possibly might get some to go for the second. An Australian soldier executed during the First World War. Many of us will be aware of just over 300 men who were shot at dawn for cowardice and various other offences during the Great War. All Commonwealth nations, apart from the Australians, would sign into this. After the Boer War and the case of Breaker Morant, Australia decided not to court-martial by execution during the First World War. However, capital crimes, those they could be hanged for on Civy Street, still came into play. I came across this newspaper article for a court case involving Verkiasser, a member of the AIF, who'd be executed at Shepton Mallet on the 5th of March 1918, for the murder of Joseph Harold Durkin, also of the AIF. Verniasser had served in the AIF since 1915, serving out in Gallipoli and Egypt and eventually moving to the Western Front. He was involved in many of the main battles of the AIF. However, he was forever being wounded, injured, and invalided out. By the end of 1917, he was Lewis gun instructor based at Sutton Camp near Salisbury, a place where the British Army still trains today. On the 27th of November 1917, in his barracks, Joseph Harold Durkin had been discovered with two bullet wounds to the head. It's claimed that it was of unsound mind at the time, and he'd executed himself with his own Lewis gun. For many, that would be the end of the case. However, for several days afterwards, they tried to investigate how a man had killed himself with a light machine gun. On forensic inspection, there was no way he could have physically done this with his own hands, as the muzzle velocity wouldn't have caused the wounds of two shots that he had. On further inspection, they assessed the crime scene and eventually found there was a bullet hole or two going through the side of the barracks. The only other person staying inside the hut was Verney Asser, who had said at the time when he discovered the body and heard the gunshots at half past nine in the evening that Joseph Harold Durkin had been alone. He never gave any excuse for the possibility of why he had killed Durkin, as they were seen to be good friends. A plea of insanity was tried at his court case in January 1918. However, perhaps it was just a negligent discharge from one of the weapons. For this he would be held at Shepton Mallet, and several court cases would go through in the January of 1918. But it was to no avail. On the 5th of March 1918, executioner John Ellis at Shepton Mallet Prison, today a hotel, would be executed. He was buried in the grounds of Shepton Mallet and on the Cambrai War Memorial in Australia, his name was never placed on it. He had been court-martialed from the army and would be executed as a civilian. As for Harold Durkin, he would receive a full Commonwealth War Grave burial. Joseph Harold Durkin is mentioned on a war memorial. This is at the Brookwood Memorial to the Missing, located in Surrey. His name is placed in the memorial along with several other soldiers who would be executed for capital crimes during the First World War, buried in the grounds of those prisons which are unmarked graves. There is a very similar memorial to those of the Second World War, where are many of those who were executed at Pentonville and Wandsworth prisons. It's just a little tale of a story of nearly 500 men who were mobilised during the First World War. I'm going to do these little bonus episodes, and hopefully there's little short, sharp stories and zippets of information that you can use if you've enjoyed this podcast. Please like, share, follow, follow us on TikTok or Beat to Battlefield on Facebook. And please, if you could be very kind and leave a review. If you have any questions or subjects you want covered, please send us a message. It'd be absolutely amazing. And thank you so much for your support.