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It was a promise neither man would have wanted to keep. Yesterday the funeral of a Black Watch soldier killed in Afghanistan took a bizarre turn when his best friend arrived in a bright green dress and pink leg warmers to honour a pact that the two of them had made.
Private Kevin Elliott and his friend, Barry Delaney, had agreed that whoever survived the other should wear a dress to the dead man’s funeral. Mr Delaney duly fulfilled the pledge as a tribute to Private Elliott, who was killed aged 24 while on foot patrol in the southern province of Helmand on August 31.
Mr Delaney wept on his knees at the graveside in Dundee as shots were fired during the military funeral. His dress plans are believed to have been known about in advance by other mourners.
Private Elliott’s other friends wore Black Watch tartan ribbon pins with the words “Kevin Elliott Our Hero”. His young cousins wore T-shirts emblazoned with his photograph. His army colleagues wore their regimental uniforms and carried his coffin, which was draped in a saltire. Earlier, hundreds of mourners had lined the route outside St Mary’s church in the city centre, clapping as the funeral cortège left for the cemetery.
During the church service, Private Elliott’s father said that he could not remember being anything but proud of his son.
Sandy Elliott said: “Kevin was a grandson, a brother, a nephew, an uncle and a cousin, but more than anything he was our son. And although some things he did annoyed us, I can’t remember being anything but proud of him.
“The saddest day of our lives was hearing he had died — something no parent wants to hear. But for 24 years Kevin brought joy to our lives.”
Private Elliott, who also leaves behind his mother, Maggie, brothers Craig and Thomas, and sisters Kirsty and Natasha, had been ready to leave the Army but decided to follow his comrades to Afghanistan at the eleventh hour. He was killed alongside Sergeant Stuart Millar, 40, whose funeral will be held in his home city of Inverness tomorrow.
The Ministry of Defence yesterday named a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday. Kingsman Jason Dunn-Bridgeman, 20, of 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, died fighting in the Babaji district of Helmand province.
Kingsman Dunn-Bridgeman’s commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Robbie Boyd, said that England and the battalion had “lost a lion” with his death.
