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217745
Pte. Victor Manson Spencer
New Zealand Expeditionary Force 1st Bn. Otago Regiment
from:New Zealand
(d.24th Feb 1918)
New Zealander, Victor Manson Spencer, was born in 1894 and died in February 1918.
He was executed for desertion on 24th February 1918 and is buried in The Huts Cemetery, Belgium.
A volunteer member of the NZ Otago Regiment, Pte. Spencer was the last soldier to be executed during the First World War.
His official crime was desertion, but the reason, as with so many others, was probably 'shell-shock', since he had been involved in a number of battles.
In 2005, the New Zealand government granted him a posthumous pardon.