'An Emperor amongst men'
Over 700 people were in the cathedral, and hundreds lined the streets outside for the funeral of Dan Read, the second farewell to a bomb disposal expert in the county’s main place of worship in less than three months.
Captain Read was killed in Afghanistan on January 11 as he was attempting to defuse a roadside bomb.
To see the slideshow, click here.
He had already made safe 32 improvised explosive devices and saved many lives before the fatal blast which took the life of a man desperately missed by his widow, Lou, his mother and father, his sisters and his nieces and nephews.
He was a man the army could not afford to lose, as the second-in-command 0f 11 EOD Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps, Major Kier Head, said at his funeral.
Major Head said the Commanding Officer, Colonel Gareth Bex, was still on tour in Afghanistan, commanding women and men like Dan in the Counter IED Task Force.
“It seems only a few, sad, short day ago that I was in this same spot speaking to you,” he said.
“Dan and Lou were both here, paying their respects to Staff Sgt Oz Schmid, Dan was recovering from the injuries he sustained when he was just two to three metres from the device which tragically killed Corporal James Oakland, a member of the Royal Military Police, who was part of Dan’s team as a weapon intelligence specialist.”
Maj Head said Dan was immensely proud when he qualified as an Ammunition Technical Officer and then as a High Threat IED disposal operator.
He had met numerous challenges in his army career, being commissioned from the ranks, completing his training a the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, passing his all arms commando course as well as the Nigh Threat course.
High Threat means the enemy is deliberately targeting the IEDD operator.
There only a few of these high threat IEDD operators in the forces and it takes time to grow them, said Major Head.
“The operator needs to be intelligent enough to understand the technical intricacies of these devices, intuitive enough to understand the enemy’s likely plan to deploy them, brave enough to conduct that long walk to the suspected location of the device.
“The operator then has to lie close to it and be clever enough to add all these factors together to develop the best render safe procedure.”
He said Dan was part of a team which bonded together to make something special.
“Dan built up his team in his image and they would all do anything for him.”
He said that for Dan to return to his team after his injuries from an IED took an unbelievable amount of courage - “a very, very special type of man.
“Dan was that officer, was that soldier.”
He said Dan had the option of not returning to Afghanistan and instead could have completed further advanced training.
“He told me he wanted to return to finish his tour. I think it was a decision we were not going to talk Dan out of.”
He said Dan lived life to the full, enriching the lives of those around him and saving numerous British and Afghan lives by being prepared to lead from the front.
“Dan was, like all high threat officers, an Emperor amongst men.”
Check www.thisiscornwall.co.uk later this afternoon for the video.
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