Shot at Dawn

The story of Private Herbert Burden takes place before and after the battle of Ypres salient. The city of Ypres itself was bombarded mercifully until it was destroyed. The stench of death was everywhere, a stench compounded by the overpowering smell of gasses still lingering from the gas attacks the night before, if you were one of the lucky ones you would have joined the 7,000 men who had been transported back to the field hospital due to gas poisoning, the night before. This is where Private Herbert Burden volunteered to go and fight for his country and this is where he was to forfeit his life, at the young age of 17, an age today when most would still be at school. Let us never forget the injustices handed out to people from across the world, a world which private Burden tried to help, a world which ultimately cost him his life.