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HE NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM, CHELSEA, WAS BUSY AS USUAL ON A SPRING DAY IN 2011. SCHOOLCHILDREN, EXCITED WITH THEIR VISIT AND A TOUR OF THE MUSEUM’S MANY INTERESTING EXHIBITS, CHATTERED THEIR WAY OUT OF THE BUILDING. JOHN ROGERS, A SERVING BRITISH ARMY SERGEANT ON LEAVE AFTER A TOUR IN AFGHANISTAN, GRINNED AS HE WATCHED THEM PASS.

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IT’S ALWAYS BUSY HERE AND THAT’S NO WONDER. I’VE BEEN DOZENS OF TIMES, BUT IT STILL SURPRISES ME...

IT’S WELL WORTH THE VISIT.

STORY MAC MACDONALD ART KEITH PAGE COVER KEITH PAGE

4 THIS WAS ONE OF THE DAYS ON WHICH MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC COULD BRING IN MILITARY MEMORABILIA FOR IDENTIFICATION AND ADVICE. IN JOHN’S BAG WAS A SOUVENIR OF HIS RECENT TIME SERVING IN AFGHANISTAN...A BRITISH ARMY SOLAR TOPEE DATING, HE BELIEVED, FROM THE NINETEENTH CENTURY WHEN THE BRITISH EMPIRE HAD RULED INDIA. THE LADS AND I THINK THAT THERE IS NAME INSIDE, PERHAPS EVEN A NUMBER, BUT WE COULDN’T MAKE IT OUT. IT HAS BEEN FUMIGATED BY THE WAY.

I’M GLAD TO HEAR IT. THE FULL DESCRIPTION IS A FOREIGN SERVICE CORK HELMET. HOW DID YOU COME

BY IT?

IT WAS QUITE A STORY. AS PART OF N.A.T.O.’s CAMPAIGN TO STABILISE THE REGION IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM, JOHN HAD BEEN IN AFGHANISTAN WITH HIS UNIT. HE WAS ORDERED TO TAKE A SQUAD OF HIS MEN AND SECURE AN OLD BUT STURDY WATCH TOWER FOR USE AS AN OBSERVATION POST. THAT’S FINE, LADS. KEEP IT MOVING, NO TIME FOR SIGHT-SEEING.

WHAT SIGHTS, SARGE?

5 THE MATERIALS NEEDED TO CONSTRUCT A SANGAR, AN OLD PERSIAN WORD MEANING BARRICADE, HAD BEEN DROPPED OFF ON THE ROOF JUST A LITTLE WHILE BEFORE BY HELICOPTER. THE SQUAD SET TO WORK AS IF THEIR LIVES DEPENDED ON IT, WHICH THEY MIGHT WELL DO. ALL QUIET SO FAR, BUT THAT’S FAMOUS LAST WORDS OUT HERE.

IT PROVED TO BE TRUE ONCE MORE AS AN INCOMING BULLET SPENT ITSELF IN THE WALL OF THE TOWER.

THEY ALL KNEW THERE WAS MORE THAN THAT, THOUGH, AND A TALIBAN FOOT SOLDIER WITH A MARKSMAN TO BACK HIM UP TOOK AIM AND PREPARED TO FIRE A SOVIET MADE R.P.G.-7.

SNIPER! ANYBODY SPOT ANYTHING APART FROM DUST AND FLIES?

HIT THEM HARD, BROTHER.

6 THE WALL OF THE TOWER CLOSE TO THE PROPOSED SANGAR TOOK A HIT. DUST AND DEBRIS FLEW EVERYWHERE, STINGING EYES AND CLOGGING THROATS.

WE CAN TAKE THAT ALL DAY. THEY’RE NOT EVEN WINNING A COCONUT THERE.

AN AGUSTA-WESTLAND APACHE AH1 HELICOPTER CREWED BY ARMY AIR CORPS PERSONNEL WAS ON PATROL IN THE AREA. IT WAS CALLED TO DEAL WITH THE ENEMY TRYING TO DISRUPT THE UNIT’S MISSION. SWOOPING IN, THE CHOPPER’S M230 CHAIN GUN LET LOOSE SOME OF ITS AWESOME POWER. THAT SHOULD SEND THEM SCURRYING BACK TO WHERE THEY CAME FROM.

7 WITH ONE DANGER DEALT WITH BUT MORE, NO DOUBT, JUST AROUND THE CORNER, JOHN AND HIS LADS GOT BACK TO THEIR TASK. THE R.P.G. EXPLOSION HAD NOT ONLY HIT THE OUTER WALL, BUT HAD CAUSED DAMAGE TO THE FLAT ROOF AS WELL. THAT’S A QUICK WAY TO PUT IN EXTRA VENTILATION, BUT NOBODY HAD BETTER TAKE A TUMBLE DOWN THAT HOLE.

I’LL CHECK IT OUT.

IT SEEMED TO BE AN OLD STAIRWELL LONG SINCE BLOCKED OFF. JOHN COULD FEEL AN OBJECT DISLODGED AMONGST ALL THE DEBRIS.

THERE’S SOMETHING HERE…

8 THE CORK HELMET WHICH WOULD EVENTUALLY BRING JOHN TO THE MUSEUM SAW THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN. I’VE SEEN ONES LIKE THIS BEFORE IN THE REGIMENTAL MUSEUM...OLD SUN HELMETS FROM THE TIME OF THE RAJ.

THE RAJ? THERE’S ONE NEAR MY HOUSE BACK HOME. BEST ONION BHAJIS MONEY CAN BUY.

THE EXPERT AT THE NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM GRINNED WITH JOHN AT THE SOLDIER’S JOKE, BUT THERE WAS A WAY TO MAKE FURTHER PROGRESS USING AN INFRA-RED LIGHT TO PICK OUT THE NAME AND NUMBER INSIDE THE HEADGEAR. THERE WE HAVE IT. BEN TRIMSHAW. I’LL JUST MAKE A NOTE OF HIS NUMBER TOO. YOU’LL ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THE BACKGROUND TO AFGHANISTAN, BUT HAVE A LOOK AT THESE ILLUSTRATIONS WHICH DATE BACK TO THE EIGHTEEN-THIRTIES...

9 “PEOPLE ALWAYS ASK WHY THIS HARSH, INHOSPITABLE REGION, ON INDIA’S NORTH WEST FRONTIER, A PLACE OF SUCH CONTRASTS, WAS FOUGHT OVER SO MUCH. WELL, THE HIGH MOUNTAINS OF THE HINDU KUSH RANGE TO THE NORTH WERE SEEN AS A NATURAL DEFENCE FOR MANY YEARS...”

“...BUT RUSSIA WAS PUSHING ITS GROWING EMPIRE EVER SOUTHWARDS TOWARDS THE AREA. BACK AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, NAPOLEON, BEFORE HE INVADED RUSSIA, SAW THE TSAR AS AN ALLY AND THEY EVEN DISCUSSED INVADING INDIA TOGETHER.” “THAT SET BRITISH NERVES JANGLING AND FURTHER MEDDLING FROM MOSCOW LED TO THE FIRST AFGHAN WAR IN THE LATE EIGHTEEN-THIRTIES. THE AFGHAN TRIBESMEN, WHO USUALLY DUELLED WITH EACH OTHER AT THE DROP OF A DAGGER, JOINED UP TO FIGHT A COMMON FOE.”

“THE BRITISH WON AFTER A FASHION, BUT ONLY AFTER SOME HORRENDOUS SETBACKS, INCLUDING A BAD BLOW TO OUR MILITARY PRESTIGE, AND A HEAVY LOSS OF LIFE. PLANS TO GARRISON THE COUNTRY CAME TO NOTHING AND WE WITHDREW AND LEFT IT TO THE AFGHANS.”

10 “THEN CAME WAR IN THE CRIMEA, THE RUSSIANS CLASHING WITH BRITAIN AND FRANCE IN THE EIGHTEEN-FIFTIES ON THE BLACK SEA COAST, PARTLY BECAUSE ENEMY EXPANSION INTO OTTOMAN TERRITORIES MIGHT HAVE THREATENED OUR SEA ROUTES TO INDIA. THAT SET THINGS UP FOR THE SECOND AFGHAN WAR IN EIGHTEEN-SEVENTY-EIGHT WHERE WE WENT AT IT HAMMER AND TONGS AGAIN TO MAKE IT CLEAR TO THE AFGHANS AND THE RUSSIANS THAT THIS JUST WASN’T ON.”

“ANOTHER HARD VICTORY WAS CHALKED UP AND ALL WENT AS QUIET AS IT EVER GETS THERE UNTIL THE THIRD AFGHAN WAR IN NINETEEN-NINETEEN. THE RUSSIANS INVADED IN NINETEEN-SEVENTY-NINE AND FOUGHT FOR TEN YEARS. NOW THE N.A.T.O. COUNTRIES ARE THERE IN FORCE.”

BY THIS TIME THE HELMET HAD BEEN POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED AS PRIVATE BEN TRIMSHAW’S. HE WAS LISTED AS MISSING IN ACTION, BELIEVED DEAD, DURING THE SECOND AFGHAN WAR. THERE’S A SUGGESTION HE WAS A DESERTER, BUT IN THOSE DAYS TO GO A.W.O.L. OUT THERE WAS LIKE SIGNING YOUR OWN DEATH WARRANT. A BLOODTHIRSTY TRIBESMAN ON EVERY CORNER, AS IT WERE.

POOR BLOKE. I BET THIS TOPEE COULD TELL SOME TALES…

RECORDS SHOWED NOTHING OF TRIMSHAW’S BACKGROUND IN BUSY, TEEMING LONDON IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, BUT IT LOOKED LIKE HE WAS AN ORPHAN, ABANDONED BY HIS MOTHER AT AN EARLY AGE...