Big Del Anderson, who served with the regulars in the RGJ and later as a Corporal with 4 Coy, 10 Para in the early 1980s, lost his two-year fight with cancer the other day. He was a gentle giant who was very well-liked by his mates. He's the huge man in the middle of the back row of the above snap taken during Operation Lionheart in 1984.
Mind you, he could swing a punch if he had to, like the time when some Hat butted one of his lads in the face with a GPMG on an exercise. Del obliterated the Hat with one jab and it took two strong men to haul him off.
In the days when we still had tin lids, his had a dent across the front. He'd tell people it was from not ducking as he went through the door. He was that big. In fact, he was so massive that the RAF sent him away from Brize two or three times before the Colonel, wanting ex-Regulars, wrote them a terse letter and Big Del finally earned his wings. You can probably still find the holes on Hankley and Fox Covert where he hit the ground.
Who could forget the stunned expressions on the faces of still-puny recruits as he held GPMGs out at straight arm's length, explaining the finer points of the weapon to them?
And his "Zulu Dawn Dance", performed on the final advance to contact with hapless "Blue Forces" units (Ah yes, we were always the Ivans and always under orders to lose, festooned with fluorescent orange ribbons and patches to help the Hats see us in time), was legendary, with that booming base voice: "Oooooooohhh Aaaaahhh HA! Oooooooohhh Aaaaahhh HA!...". I think it was the Honourable Artillery Company, who took themselves for the SAS, who rose up as one and legged it away into the mists of Salisbury Plain on one occasion.
Priceless...
I shared a basher under the rain with him on more than one occasion because he liked my char - I usually brought serious, heavy Indian tea with me and cans of Carnation for that tea wallah taste - even though I was also fairly broad (4th to his right) and we ended up wetter than strictly necessary cos they didn't do rain capes in Size Huge. This was before we discovered Gortex bivvy bags or, to be more precise, were able to afford Survival Aids' prices for them.
His son Bradley says that anyone who knew him is more than welcome at his funeral on June 12th. He'll be in BC Baker & Son, 15-17 High Street, Town Centre, CR3 5UE (Croydon, South London) for a day or so beforehand and the funeral service will be at 2 pm at St John's Church, Clareville Road, Caterham, Surry CR3 6LAm followed by the burial at 3 pm by St Nicholas' Church, Church Lane, Godstone, Surrey RH9 8BW, with a reception at The Bell Inn at 128 High Street, Godstone.
I imagine the family would be touched if former airborne men happened to drop by to see Del off to the final RV.
PK
Mind you, he could swing a punch if he had to, like the time when some Hat butted one of his lads in the face with a GPMG on an exercise. Del obliterated the Hat with one jab and it took two strong men to haul him off.
In the days when we still had tin lids, his had a dent across the front. He'd tell people it was from not ducking as he went through the door. He was that big. In fact, he was so massive that the RAF sent him away from Brize two or three times before the Colonel, wanting ex-Regulars, wrote them a terse letter and Big Del finally earned his wings. You can probably still find the holes on Hankley and Fox Covert where he hit the ground.
Who could forget the stunned expressions on the faces of still-puny recruits as he held GPMGs out at straight arm's length, explaining the finer points of the weapon to them?
And his "Zulu Dawn Dance", performed on the final advance to contact with hapless "Blue Forces" units (Ah yes, we were always the Ivans and always under orders to lose, festooned with fluorescent orange ribbons and patches to help the Hats see us in time), was legendary, with that booming base voice: "Oooooooohhh Aaaaahhh HA! Oooooooohhh Aaaaahhh HA!...". I think it was the Honourable Artillery Company, who took themselves for the SAS, who rose up as one and legged it away into the mists of Salisbury Plain on one occasion.
Priceless...
I shared a basher under the rain with him on more than one occasion because he liked my char - I usually brought serious, heavy Indian tea with me and cans of Carnation for that tea wallah taste - even though I was also fairly broad (4th to his right) and we ended up wetter than strictly necessary cos they didn't do rain capes in Size Huge. This was before we discovered Gortex bivvy bags or, to be more precise, were able to afford Survival Aids' prices for them.
His son Bradley says that anyone who knew him is more than welcome at his funeral on June 12th. He'll be in BC Baker & Son, 15-17 High Street, Town Centre, CR3 5UE (Croydon, South London) for a day or so beforehand and the funeral service will be at 2 pm at St John's Church, Clareville Road, Caterham, Surry CR3 6LAm followed by the burial at 3 pm by St Nicholas' Church, Church Lane, Godstone, Surrey RH9 8BW, with a reception at The Bell Inn at 128 High Street, Godstone.
I imagine the family would be touched if former airborne men happened to drop by to see Del off to the final RV.
PK
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