The Afghan (39 page)

Predictably, it has a clock at the top, but the points of interest are the four faces of the tower on which are inscribed the names of all SAS men killed in combat.

Shortly after the issue of the death certificate a memorial service was held at the foot of the Clock Tower. There were a dozen men in uniform and ten in civilian clothes, and two women. One of these was the Director-General of MI5, the Security Service, and the other the dead man’s ex-wife.

The missing-in-action status had needed a bit of persuasion but the pressure came from very high indeed. When apprised of all the known facts the Director, Special Forces, and the Commanding Officer of the Regiment had agreed that the status was justified. Colonel Mike Martin was certainly not the first, nor would be the last SAS man to be lost in a faraway place and never recovered.

Across the border to the west the sun was dipping across the Black Mountains of Wales on a bleak February day when the brief ceremony was held. At the end the chaplain spoke the habitual words from the Gospel of St John: ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’

Only those grouped round the Clock Tower knew that Mike Martin, Parachute Regiment and SAS Colonel, retired, had done this for four thousand complete strangers, none of whom ever knew he existed.