In a War noted for its sense of tragedy and waste, the story of James Crozier still has the power to stop us in our tracks. He was a teenager, quite possibly underage when he signed up in the early days of the war, and had to be carried out to his execution because he was so drunk. The commanding officers feared that there would be a rebellion amongst the troops because of his youth, and the perceived cruelty of the judgement. To some extent they were right - the firing squad to a man fired wide of the mark, and Crozier's young life was ended by a single shot to the head by the junior officer in charge. Bizarrely, the commanding officer of the 9th Irish Royal Rifles was also a Crozier. Although unrelated to the hapless youngster, Lt-Col Frank Crozier had been present at James' enlistment, and had been able to promise his tearful mother that he would keep an eye on the boy. Sixteen months later, Frank Crozier, as his commanding officer, recommended that the death sentence be carried out. Later he attempted to cover up the whole story by including James in the list of those killed on active duty. He may have done this to ensure that Mrs Crozier should not be deprived of her son's army pension. When the story leaked out, as it was sure to do in such circumstances, Mrs Crozier had lost her son, and the money.
James Crozier lies in the Sucerie cemetery, near the village of Colincamps, close behind the original Allied lines. On a blue sky day on the Somme, with the butterflies playing around the headstone, there should have been a sense of peace here, but the young Ulsterman's story is a difficult one to forget.
