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from Manchester Evening
News, Friday 17 March, 2000
 Ypres
setting for story of a fallen hero
BY SARAH
LESTER
BOLTON soldier James
Smith was just 26 when he was shot for desertion during the First World
War.
He had joined the
Lancashire Fusiliers six years earlier, winning good conduct medals and
fighting at Gallipoli.
In 1917, shell-shocked
after being wounded in action at the Somme, James got up and walked away
from the front line.
The young soldier was
caught, court martialled, sentenced to death and shot at 5.5Oam on
September 5.
His tragic story was
turned into a moving play — Early One Morning — written by local
playwright Les Smith, 51, and performed at the Bolton Octagon.
Now it has been
translated into Flemish and will be performed in Ypres, Belgium, a few
miles away from James’s
grave. This weekend, descendants Jack, 79, and 71-year-old Freda
Hargreaves, from Bolton, will make an emotional journey to see the
performance along with Les.
While they are there,
they will also see the cell where James was held and place a Lancashire
red rose on his grave.
Les’s play revolves
around the five days between James’s sentence and execution.
"He was a good
soldier who had won good conduct medals but had his nerves worn
down," said Les.
"He was not a
coward, he was shell-shocked, probably suffering from what we would call
post traumatic stress syndrome. What happened was a gross injustice."
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