Grieving parents plan to visit Helmand province
2/2/12 PACEMAKER BELFAST. Ranger David Dalziel's parents George and Susan in their Bangor home a year on from their son's death. Picture CHARLES MCQUILLAN/PACEMAKER
THE parents of a young Royal Irish Ranger killed in Afghanistan have revealed it is their ambition to travel to the strife-torn country and visit the scene of their son’s death.
Bangor soldier David Dalzell, 20, was killed in an operational accident in Helmand province last February.
The Co Down man – who had only joined the ranks of the Army months earlier – was fatally wounded by a close colleague in a tragic incident.
Speaking to the News Letter ahead of the first anniversary of their youngest son’s death today, Gordon and Susan Dalzell indicated their desire to pay their respects at the spot where David lost his life.
Last year, the Bangor couple met with the soldier responsible – just 12 weeks after the accident – as part of the healing process.
“If there is peace and Afghanistan becomes a place you can go to, we would love to go and visit Camp Ranger where David passed away,” Gordon said.
“I know the Royal Irish are going back [later this year] and if it is at all feasible I will be asking can we go. Hopefully they can facilitate that.”
While stressing such a gesture would not offer closure, Mr Dalzell admitted it would be “another hurdle” overcome in their grief process.
Reflecting on the circumstances of the death, Gordon said if David had lost his life to the Taliban “there would have been someone to vent your anger on and rant and rave”.
However, he said: “David was killed by his best friend in the military and it was a total accident.”
Mr and Mrs Dalzell took the decision to give evidence at the soldier’s subsequent court marshall, stressing their belief that he was already serving a “life sentence” for his role in David’s death.
Gordon said: “We did not want him to suffer any more than he had already. We asked the judge that we wanted him to continue on with his military career and seek promotion.
“Everything that he does, not only does he do it for himself but also for David. David would not have wanted him to be punished harshly as he was his best friend.”
Mr Dalzell maintained the face-to-face meeting with the Royal Irish soldier was something he and Susan decided they “needed to do”.
“When we came out of it we felt a lot better that we had done it and had not shunned away from it,” he said.
“It helped us overcome a hurdle.”
Asked if they could forgive the individual, Gordon replied: “I don’t think forgiveness comes into it. He took something so precious away from us. Maybe down the line forgiveness will come into it but it is still so raw.”
Mrs Dalzell added: “I know it was an accident but I don’t know if I can forgive still.”
Describing their son as “always happy, outgoing and loving”, Ranger Dalzell’s parents said it was always the former Bangor Academy pupil’s ambition to join the Army, following a short stint as a mechanic.
“His elder brother was in the military and he always looked up to Gareth so it was always a career he wanted to do,” Gordon said.
Despite his frontline duties, Ranger Dalzell would have regularly rang his family and his partner, Debbie.
“He would have phoned us from Afghanistan but he was always upbeat,” his father said.
“Every day they were fighting with the Taliban and he would tell me about ‘getting rounds down’ as he called it.
“One of the other soldiers told us that he always brought the phone back with no battery life left in it because he was ringing us.
“Even on Christmas Day he rang and spoke to us all.”
Mr Dalzell added: “We spoke to him on the Thursday before he was killed and he was complaining that it was not as busy as it used to be because [the Royal Irish] had defeated the Taliban in that area.
“Like all young soldiers, he enjoyed the cut and thrust and the adrenalin.”
Stressing the past year had been a “rollercoaster” for the family and they were taking it “a day at a time”, the Dalzells have encountered a number of emotional landmarks, including David’s 21st birthday.
During the course of the last 12 months they have received the posthumous Elizabeth Cross from the regiment’s colonel-in-chief, Prince Andrew, in honour of David’s service and attended a reception at Buckingham Palace.
Gordon also laid a wreath in memory of his son at Bangor cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.
“To lay a wreath for your own son was one of the hardest things we had to do,” he said.
The Dalzells say they will mark today’s anniversary with relatives by being together “quietly” as a family.
Ranger Dalzell was one of three Ulster soldiers who did not return from the front line in Afghanistan during the Royal Irish Regiment’s most recent 2010/2011 tour.
Colleague Aaron McCormick was killed in an explosion in the notoriously dangerous Nad-e-Ali region in November 2010.
The Macosquin soldier, 22, lost his life after being caught in a blast whilst being out on patrol.
Poignantly, Ranger McCormick died on Remembrance Sunday.
Banbridge soldier Stephen McKee was killed in March last year, only weeks before he was due to return home.
The Royal Irish lance corporal, 27, died after the armoured vehicle he was driving hit a roadside bomb in Helmand province.
Paying tribute to Ranger Dalzell at the time of his death, his commanding officer Lt Col Colin Weir described the Bangor soldier as an “extraordinary young man”.
He said: “His time with us was too short, but in that time he experienced more and contributed more than most men do in a lifetime.”
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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