Commonwealth War Cemetery Sucrerie

Sucrerie Military Cemetery contains 1103 Commonwealth war graves from World War I. Of these, 219 are unidentified.

There is also a grave of a deserter: James Crozier.
James Crozier of Belfast was a sixteen-year-old shipyard apprentice when he joined the Royal Irish Rifles in September 1914. Gunner James Crozier spent the winter of 1915 - 1916 in the trenches of the Somme. In February of that miserable cold, wet winter, James Crozier went missing from his guard post and walked quite a distance to an Army medical station. At his court-martial, he said he didn't know what he was doing, was in a daze and was in pain all over his body. However, the doctor who examined him declared him fit for active duty and he was sent back to his unit to face the consequences of his desertion. As evidence, Lieutenant Colonel Percy Crozier stated that this was not a case of a confused and disoriented young man leaving his post to check into a field hospital. Rather, it was the case of a deserter who, cold, wet, and despondent, had crept away from the line under cover of darkness, throwing away his rifle, ammunition, and equipment. The young shooter was found guilty of desertion and sentenced to death.
Just before dawn on the morning of 27 February 1916, the battalion was paraded near the walled garden where the execution was to take place, close enough to hear but not see what was happening. The men of the firing party take their guns on a command given. On another command they stand ready and, lowering a handkerchief, they fire - a sound is heard. The doctor examines the victim. He signals, the subordinate steps forward, a single shot rings out. Life is now extinct.
Lieutenant Colonel Percy Crozier attempted to add James Crozier's name to a list of field casualties. This did not happen and as a result Elizabeth Crozier was denied the normal allowances payable on the death of close relatives.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries + TracesOfWar
• Photos: Koos Winkelman