Fallen soldier’s best friend wore a green dress to his funeral, honoring a pact they made years ago
A man from Dundee kept a promise of friendship at a funeral after a poignant pact turned tragic.
A young man from Dundee honored a promise to his best friend after the British Army soldier lost his life in Afghanistan. Barry Delaney and Private Kevin Elliott had agreed that if Elliott died in action, Delaney would attend the funeral in a brightly colored dress. That moment came in August 2009 when Elliott, only 24 years old, serving with the Black Watch regiment, was killed in a Taliban ambush in the Babaji district of Helmand province, as reported by The Guardian.
The pact between the two friends had been Elliott’s idea. Elliott had raised the subject of his funeral during a conversation at Delaney’s flat, and the two had joked about the idea of him turning up in women’s clothes. They laughed, shook hands, and agreed the outfit should be as loud as possible. At the funeral in St Mary’s Church in Dundee, where more than 1,000 mourners gathered to pay their respects to Elliott, Delaney showed up in a lime-green mini-dress with a pair of neon pink knee-high socks. "He understood our pact, everyone did," Delaney explained, "There were a few raised eyebrows, a few looks, but everyone was aware of the promise I had made Kevin."
Photographs showed Delaney collapsing as grief overwhelmed him. "I was bending down to ask him if he liked the dress’s color," he later said. In the weeks before his death, Elliott had spoken openly to Delaney about his fears, admitting that Afghanistan felt far more dangerous than Iraq, where he had previously served. He described the constant threat of hidden bombs, the death of comrades, and the trauma of carrying the remains of a fellow soldier while under fire. In a letter to Delaney, Elliott had told friends he wanted to complete two tours, Iraq and Afghanistan, to earn both medals before leaving the army. For him, that achievement would have marked the end of his service. Instead, his life was cut short on August 31, 2009, when he was killed during a patrol in Babaji.
Delaney and Elliott had been inseparable since 2005 after being introduced by Elliott’s sister. Delaney had chosen casual work after leaving school, while Elliott joined the Black Watch at 16, like many of his classmates. In Dundee, where the regiment’s history is deeply rooted, their friendship is widely recognized. Moments like this speak to what grief experts describe as the ongoing bonds we maintain with the dead. Rather than suppressing sadness, "the central challenge for mourners is to move from loving someone who is present to loving them even though they're absent," said Thomas Attig, Ph.D., author of "The Heart of Grief." "Lots of people talk about closure, but that's a fantasy. Death ends a life, but it doesn't end the relationship," he writes.
The story recently resurfaced on Reddit, leaving readers both touched and heartbroken. u/Mrroboto63 commented, "What a great friendship they had. This is both such an amazing and sad set of photos. Great guy to follow through with this, and his bud appreciated every second of this." u/greasemonkeycoot wrote, "This is the most military thing I have ever heard and I love it being a prior military person I would have rocked a skin tight dress and hills breaking my ankles to ensure my bros final wishes were honored." u/Ocelot859 added, "They were just kids when they went over there... war is so unnecessary."
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