Soldier's best friend keeps funeral pledge

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.