SERGEANT-MAJOR SHOT
EXONERATION OF SENTRY LONDON, April 2-1 How a sergeant-major was shot dead by a sentry was described at the Strat-ford-on-Avon inquest on Battery Ser-geaut-Major John AlcGerr, aged 20. Gunner Desmond John Jenkinson said lie was on sentry duty and challenged three times in the dark without receiving a reply before he tired. The Coroner: Were you and AlcGerr bad friends? .Jenkinson: Well, sir, we did not get on very well together. Because it had been mentioned that j you made a reference to the fact that he wanted shooting?— Yes. sir. Was that said with any intention of doing anything?—Xo, sir. It was just a general expression?— ! Yes, sir. I should say at least a dozen others said the same thing. Air. Woods (for Gunner Jenkinson): Am 1 right in saying that this (the remark that the sergeant-major wanted shooting) is a common expression in the Army?— Yes. The coroner said he did not think there was anything in the suggestion about "feeling" between the sentry and McGorr. The verdict was that McGerr died through being shot by a sentry, and that it was in the execution of the latter's duty, and therefore justified.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23969, 20 May 1941, Page 8
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196SERGEANT-MAJOR SHOT New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23969, 20 May 1941, Page 8
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