DRAMATIC TRIAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 September 1940, Page 2

DRAMATIC TRIAL

' DUNKIRK VETERAN CHARGED. Throughout two long days in Winchester’s ancient castle/ two tragic women.sat on either side of the dock. In it was James Henry Roach, aged 35, regimental sergeant-major in the Royal Artillery, standing his trial on the indictment of having murdered his “second in command,” Major Francis John. Felix Graham. The trial over, Roach left the dock, free to resume what was his whole life —his career in the Army. He had been found “not guilty” not only of murder, but also of manslaughter. Both the women who sat through "the hours of his ordeal wore the emblem of the royal regiment. One was the widow of the officer who had died- the other, the wife of the man accused of killing him. Neither spoke to the other throughout the trial. They heard Mr J. G. Trapnell, K.C. detail the case for the prosecution. ■He explained that the alleged shooting took place in the workmen s institute of the Somerset village where the unit was reorganising “after Dunkirk.” He told how Roach, who had been a regular serving soldier for neaily 18 years, had reached the rank of regimental quartermaster-sergeant when war broke out, and had been recommended for a commission as lieutenant and quartermaster. When the unit went to France with the B.E.F. Roach was promoted acting regimental sergeant-major by his colonel. Major Graham joined them in France as second in command. The unit fought its way back to Dunkirk—where it lay on the beaches for three days and nights, under incessant bombing and shell-fire from the Nazis—and ultimately, in its remnants, reached the Somerset vilMajor Graham had made certain criticisms of Roach’s work as regimental sergeant-major—not, explained Mr Trapnell, making any reflections on him “as a soldier, or a man”—and the colonel ultimately suggested that Roach should revert to his previous rank of regimental quartermaster-sergeant. « This, declared Mr Trapnell, was the gravamen of the matter. To an obligato of the drone of battle ’planes overhead, of bugle calls, of the shouts of an N.C.O.’s class in the nearby barracks, officers and warrant officers of the unit told of the tragic sequence of events leading up to the death of Major Graham. They declared that R.M.S. Roach was “a first-rate soldier and a man.” They described with what grief he had heard the criticisms of his work; how, on the eventful day, Major Graham had called him to his office. They told of the shots which were heard; of the discovery of Major Graham and the sergeant-major lying on the floor together. They told how Major Graham gasped out: “Watch Mr Roach. Place him under arrest,” and how Roach said: “All right, sir, I’m a soldier.” Dr. James M. Webster, director of the West Midland Forensic Science Laboratory, who had conducted experiments on the revolver with which it was alleged, Major Graham had been killed, and on the battle-dress tunic worn by Roach at the time, demonstrated to the Court how the tunic had been pierced with a bullet near the left breast pocket.

“NO USE CARRYING ON.” He stated that his conclusion was that the muzzle of the gun had been pressed against the cloth, which had rucked up when the pistol was fired. In the box, Roach told of his distraught condition at the time of the tragedy. Pie had been through Dunkirk, he pointed out, and the whole campaign in France and Flanders. He told how utterly confounded he was, on his return from France, at the colonel’s suggestion that he should revert to his former rank; how he had gone on 48 hours’ leave and found his wife so ill with tuberculosis- that he could not confide in her. Asked by Mr Justice Hawke whether he regarded the suggestion that he should revert to a lower rank as a degradation, Roach replied: “Yes. I felt it was no use carrying on as a soldier. I thought it a stain I should never remove either among my own comrades or my people. I thought the best way out would be to take my own life.” Roach declared that he had no recollection of the events which led upto the major’s death except that, when called into the room, he conceived the idea of shooting himself in the presence of. the major. He had a vague recollection of the major rushing at him and attempting to seize the gun which he was holding. He had no idea that the major had been shot. Roach’s wife stated that she received a registered letter from her husband enclosing his Masonic ring, and reading: “ “A soldier of England. My darling Ada and children. Good-bye! P.S. — Carry on.” After the jury had heard the defence speech of Mr N. J. Skelborn and had found Roach not guilty either of murder or manslaughter, Mrs Roach, in tears, waited for the dock to be unlocked. She clung passionately to her husband.

Dr. Goebbels is said to carry a piece of ivory about with him for luck. We have suspected for some time thqt he is in the habit of wearing some under his hat.