Delany's Progress

Epilogue

About the Author

David Tetlow was born in Rossendale, Lancashire, during the Second World War. Following his school years, he worked in mechanical engineering and later specialised in textile machinery research and development.

He is married to Joyce and has a son, a daughter and four grandchildren. He joined the Lancashire Police during the 1960s and completed most of his thirty years’ service in Greater Manchester, where he retired as an Investigating Officer.

About the Book

Delany left the army after becoming seriously injured whilst on active duty in foreign parts. He was repatriated to England and when he was fully recovered, and because of his admiration for the positive actions of a police officer friend, he joined the Constabulary.

His new employers soon became aware that he would make an excellent officer and that he was particularly adept at deep undercover work.

This book covers some of his, at times death defying, adventures.

Dedication

To my family for their support.

Copyright Information

Copyright © David Tetlow (2019)

The right of David Tetlow to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528926706 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528926713 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781528964791 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2019)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Acknowledgement

To Neil, Philip, Norman and Bernard, remembering the good times and bad.

Chapter One

It was five o’clock in the afternoon on the 14th of July 1984 and the sun was blazing down fiercely on the rocky hill in Cambodia just northwest of the border with Vietnam.

Josh Delany was squatting at about three hundred feet at the top of the hill, overlooking a pass between the hills and the dusty rough track below. Josh was a staff sergeant and a leading member of the British Expeditionary Forces who was charged with the task of training members of the local militia in the art of warfare and defence.

He had planted three false land mines on the track below, and left them with a few scratch markings around them in the dust. The idea being that his trainees should be able to spot them, using the reasonable observational skills that he had been at great pains to teach them.

He scanned the distance and could see amongst the jungle like terrain, a dust cloud about two miles away, his trainees were heading this way and would soon be upon the first of the obstacles, the land mines.

Other units of the local volunteers under instruction from the British, were a couple of miles further up the track waiting in mock ambush. There were seven vehicles in the approaching convoy with ten trainees in each.

Delany was happy that he was completely obscured at the hills summit in his fatigues and could not be seen from below.

As he waited, he began to ponder his lifestyle and where it was taking him. He had been in the army for nineteen years and had generally enjoyed every minute, even the moments of sheer terror. He was now thirty-seven years of age, with a wife and two young daughters in England. Was it, he wondered, time to do something else with his life and spend more good quality time with his family.

As he pondered, he suddenly saw a slight movement near the false mines. He saw two figures dressed in a similar manner to his trainees move towards the mines from the shrub by the track and begin to dig up one of his mines. At first, he was delighted, his trainees had stolen a march on him, they had sent people ahead and were already digging up the false mines.

Wow, did I underestimate them? he thought.

He then saw two other figures come out of the shrub, he took out his binoculars and saw that they were carrying other land mines and began to plant the same.

It was then that Delany realised the awful truth, that it was not his trainees that he had underestimated but their enemy. He had obviously been observed planting the false mines, and that the people he could now see, were the usurpers who knew of the military exercise and were planting real land mines, and were very good at it concealing them well. The mines were planted and the figures disappeared as though they had never been there.

Where did they come from? he thought. Then, he realised that the whole area was honeycombed with secret tunnels and that he had been completely out manoeuvred, putting the very people who he was charged with the safety of, in danger of death.

Looking into the distance, he saw that his convoy was less than one mile away and coming on quickly.

He picked up his radio knowing that the signals were not very good, but he had to try to halt the vehicles. He got no response.

Delany jumped up and began to half run and half slide and stumble down the dusty rocky hillside, he had somehow to stop the convoy before it reached the pass.

He reached a ledge about thirty feet above the pass, and could see the leading vehicle approaching no more than a few hundred yards away. He gestured towards the leading truck flailing his arms about trying to attract attention and stop them. The driver and front seat passenger merely waived back in a jovial manner and he knew he had failed.

In desperation, Delany attempted to block the entrance to the pass. He put his back to the ledge wall and with all his might pushed an overhanging rock with both feet which broke away.

The rock crashed down bouncing against the sides of the pass on its way, the vibration starting other small rocks to slip and fall into the pass.

The effect was as Delany had hoped, the convoy had stopped short of the pass and the large rock landed and blocked the entrance. A smaller rock about the size of a human head broke free from the other side of the pass, and Delany saw that it was falling towards the spot where one of the land mines was buried. Understanding the immediate danger, he covered himself as best he could.

There was an enormous explosion, which in turn began a massive rock fall into the area where the other two mines were located, the following second explosion, tore away the ledge on which Delany stood. He was thrown into the air and landed heavily on the debris below and was immediately covered by rocks dust and other filth falling from above.

Second Lieutenant Chan was in-charge of the convoy, and he quickly realised that things had gone badly wrong. He had his men comb the area for any signs of intrusion. They quickly found the tunnel which was collapsing due to the explosions. (The tunnel which the mine setters had used, but by now they were long gone.)

The soldiers mined and fully collapsed the rest of the tunnel, so that it could not be used again. Unfortunately, in doing so, a further rock fall injured two of his men.

The officer also knew that the lives of many of his men had been saved by the actions of Sergeant Delany, they excavated the pile of rock and rubble expecting to find him dead. When they reached him, Chan called forward their medical officer who to their surprise and delight said. ‘He is alive, but only just, he is very badly injured, we must be very careful with him.’

Delany who was unconscious was gently placed on a stretcher, his airways cleared and a head brace fitted. Two of Chan’s men had also been injured in the rock fall, and the officer decided to send one of his vehicles with the three injured men, back to their local headquarters while the rest of his group continued with the exercise.

Delany was driven to the local army base where he was given the emergency treatment that was available there, he was then flown to the army headquarters at Phnom Penh where he was treated by Doctors Franklin and Lee.

X-rays proved that he had sustained simple fractures in both leg and arm bones, he also had many fractured ribs, more seriously, he had a fractured skull and some brain swelling.

Doctor Franklin said to Doctor Lee, ‘I’m travelling home to England a week from now, I wonder whether it would be a good idea to take Delany with me on the flight where I can look after him. He has a long healing process to endure and I feel that it will be more endurable for him if he is among his family and friends. What do you think?’

‘Yes, if you are with him and looking after him on the flight, I would consider that a good idea and in any case I have to be honest, we need the bed space here in this hospital.’

Chapter Two

Wendy Delany was at home in the army housing estate in Hereford. It was one o’clock in the afternoon on the fifteenth of July. Her children Beverly and Holly were at school, and she was feeling very pleased with herself, having just that morning received a letter from the Open University saying that she had passed her master’s degree in English Literature, after four years of intense home study.

She got up to answer a knock on the door, as she approached the door, she saw through the glass that it was Captain Thomas Standing, Josh’s commanding officer and friend. As she opened the door, she saw that his wife Jenny was with him. Assuming it was a social call, she invited them in and began to tell them about her good news.

‘Wendy, Wendy, can I interrupt you I am delighted by your good news but I am afraid that I have some bad news to tell you. Josh has been injured and is in hospital in Phnom Penh Cambodia, I cannot tell you much more than that, other than as I understand it, his injuries are not life threatening.’

The colour drained from Wendy’s face and she almost collapsed. Both Thomas and Jenny grabbed her and held her tight, taking her to the settee to sit. After a short while, she composed herself and said. ‘I must go to him can you arrange it?’

‘Wendy, leave it with me for a short time, I must find out what the army are doing about it then I will get back to you, Jenny will stay with you and give you company for a while and I will make further enquiries.’

Thomas went off to make a phone call to the hospital in Phnom Penh. Jenny attempted to talk to Wendy about her success with the degree, but Wendy was far too upset.

Thomas returned about one hour later, with the news that Josh was to be transferred to Hertford County Hospital and was to be brought home by R.A.F. transport the following week. He would be accompanied by, and in the care of, a returning army doctor and he believed that to be Doctor Franklin who was known to Thomas, and to whom he had spoken. The doctor had assured him that Josh’s injuries were unlikely to be a threat to his life and that the transfer should be successful.

Thomas also stated that Josh was being kept sedated and would not be aware of her presence if she were to go to Cambodia, which the authorities did not in any case advise and would not assist her with.

He convinced Wendy to stay at home, look after her children and perform her normal routine