War IS sad. Don't hide it from your children
Michael Morpurgo - THE TIMES
Printed in Wednesday's London Times, this long piece by Michael Morpurgo, on the impact of televised wars on children...
of all my books that touch on war Private Peaceful might seem the one that is too harsh, too painful for a young audience. I wrote it because I discovered on a visit to Ypres that more than 300 British soldiers were shot by firing squad in the First World War for cowardice or desertion. Trials for a man?s life were brief, sometimes less than half an hour. Witnesses were often not available. At best it was rough justice, at worst not justice at all. I read of one young man of 18 who had fought through the Somme. In rest camp one day with the guns still firing he turned to his friend and said that he ?couldn?t stand the sound of the guns any more, that he was going home?. He was arrested, tried and condemned. Men from his own company were obliged to make up the firing squad. In protest they stood over his grave till sunset. I wanted to write that young soldier?s story...
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