J. J. Sweeney

While on this field school, we see hundreds of thousands of names of the dead including those whose names are unknown.  We are aware that each fallen soldier had a family, friends, and loved ones and that each looked different, had different gifts, and had a unique personality.  Some of these men´s stories we are fortunate enough to learn a bit about and so it was with New Zealand Trooper J. J. Sweeney.  Sweeney enlisted in the army October 15th, 1914 at the age of 35.
At 5:44 am, October 2, 1916 Sweeney was executed for desertion.  Apparently, he went absent on July 25th, 1916 and was gone for a total of 42 days.  What made him desert his post we will never know; perhaps like many soldiers he suffered from a mental breakdown from witnessing and experiencing the horrors of war.  Seven years after WWI the information of his desertion and execution was released; however, supposedly his father Bernard had become aware of it earlier and when he committed suicide by strychnine many believed it was because of shame he felt having a deserter son. 
We will probably never know whether it was shame for his desertion or sadness for his death that broke Bernard´s spirit but his suicide does underscore that for many of those condemned soldier`s shot at dawn, their families suffering was doubled.  First with the news of their precious son, husband, or brother´s death and again with shame and embarrassment that he was dishonored.  What a pity that these brave men, many who volunteered to fight, were treated in such a horrific and undignified way when what they needed was help and understanding and should have been told how grateful the nation was that they had risked their lives for so long in order to serve them.