Shot for desertion

​Frank Hughes faced his firing squad with his eyes open and without a blindfold.
In the end he met his death bravely, even if his actions during his stint in France during the First World War led to a charge of desertion.
The men from our troops who were shot were often deeply troubled, terrified, out of their minds with shock, ill, or unable to cope with the horrific surroundings they found themselves in.
A good part of Frank’s problem was drink.
Frank was born in Gore on June 11, 1888, and worked in Wellington as a builder’s labourer.
But with the outbreak of World War I he joined up, enlisting in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, leaving with the 10th Reinforcement and arriving in France in April 1916. He then joined the 12th (Nelson) company, 2nd battalion, Canterbury Regiment.
Frank liked to drink and it quickly got him into trouble. By July he had already been brought before his commanding officer three times for ill-discipline.
Less than a month later he was found guilty by a Field General Court Martial for absenting himself without leave. He earned a one years’ imprisonment, but this was suspended on review and he got a warning.
He rejoined his unit in the horror of the trenches only to promptly disappear again.
This time it took 11 days for military police to catch up with him, sleeping in an abandoned house.
Frank thought he had been away for six days and had gone into the house for a sleep.
He went before another Field General Court Martial for desertion on August 12. He blamed it all on alcohol. He said he got light-headed and wandered off, wandering around town. He had continued drinking throughout his absence.
Frank was found guilty and sentenced to be shot.
The day of his execution he was taken from his cell to an orchard and put against a tree. He declined a blindfold and at 5.30am the men from the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion fired.
Frank Hughes was the first New Zealand man executed in the First World War but not the last, 27 others were also executed during the conflict.
He was buried in the Hallencourt Communal Cemetery.
In 2000 the New Zealand government gave Frank - and others - posthumous pardons although it was not without controversy.
Picture by Rob Pumphrey.