My family asked me not to wear my uniform to my grandfather’s military tribute because it would embarrass them in front of the guests. An hour later a four-star general stepped up to the microphone and looked straight at the back row.

We got eleven people out. It took most of the night and it went wrong twice. Two of my own team were hurt, one badly.

That is the whole of it. It is on a citation and the citation is accurate and I do not talk about the night itself, to anybody, and I am not going to start here.

Of the eleven civilians, eight were contractors from a firm most people have never heard of and three were visiting executives from the parent company.

One of the three was a man called Graham Stannard.

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PART 4 — TWO TABLES AWAY

I walked up that aisle to the stage in the dark with a spotlight on me and every head in that room turning.