Moving testimony to the British army's loss of life in Afghanistan

The promise I had to keep: to wear a dress at my fallen friend's funeral

    * Mark Townsend
    * The Observer, Sunday 20 September 2009
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/sep/20/elliott-delaney-funeral-dress-promise

Wriggling into the £4.99 Primark dress, Barry Delaney never paused to consider what others might think. He and his best pal Kevin Elliott had made a pact and that was all that mattered.

Three years ago, they had agreed that Delaney would wear a dress – the brighter, the better – if Elliott was killed in a action. Their unusual covenant would be realised sooner than either could have expected; private Elliott died last month the victim of a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan.

It was just after 10am last Wednesday when Delaney squeezed into a tight lime-green mini-dress and donned a pair of 99p pink knee-high socks. Then, assiduously avoiding the mirror, the 25-year-old poured a neat vodka – his, and Elliot's, favourite drink.