Category Archives: Tales of Inspiration

By John McLean

On 10^th September, 2024, the death occurred of Dale Collett, a hero of the Rhodesian Bush War and an inspiration for all those who suffer adversity in their lives.

Dale was brought up on a farm in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. He learned Zulu from speaking with the farm’s African employees. After leaving school he went up to Rhodesia and joined its army which was engaged in deadly combat with two groups of terrorists, Mugabe’s ZANLA lot who were armed by China (an enemy of the West then as it is now) and Joshua Nkomo’s ZIPRA group which was armed mainly by the Soviet Union.

Because of his fluency in Zulu Dale was first placed with the Rhodesian African Rifles, a native regiment. His competence and bravery brought him to the notice of Major Ron Reid Daly who made him his first choice when choosing officers for his newly formed Selous Scouts which in quick time became the finest and most deadly anti-terrorist force that the world has ever seen. Of this choice Reid Daly later wrote, “He was reputed to have an extremely good rapport with his African soldiers….Dale was a young man of exceedingly high spirits”. 

The maiden deployment of the Selous Scouts was in January, 1974, in the Kandeya Tribal Trust lands, north of Mount Darwin. This was in the Hurricane Operational Area (north-east Rhodesia). On the night of 23-24 February Dale and his men were engaged in reconnaissance of a terrorist camp and at dawn he directed the Rhodesia Light Infantry Fireforce planes to the target with the result that six terrorists were killed and one captured plus weapons and documents, the latter with their maps, passwords, etc. being important since the terrorists were not using radio contact for security reasons.

Later in 1974 Dale was in command of troops who were to make a night raid on a small terrorist position. However, because of the terrain only he and two others were in a position to make an attack. With his trademark courage he pressed on under heavy fire and managed to clear it of terrorists, killing three of them and forcing the others to flee. By the end of 1974 his score was 29 dead terrorists and he was the first man to be awarded the Silver Cross of Rhodesia, the second highest award for gallantry in the Rhodesian Armed Services.

During an attack on terrorist positions over the border in Mozambique in 1976 Dale and the other Scouts came upon a building, the ground floor of which was an arms depot for ZANLA. It was a main store for weapons that were being smuggled into Rhodesia by the terrorists for their murder campaign against white farmers and black villagers.

The building and its environs seemed deserted. There was an upper floor to which the only access was by an outside staircase. While the Scouts were busy loading the weapons to take back over the border to Rhodesia Dale Collett mounted the staircase to the upper floor. Upon entering the first floor corridor there was a burst of enemy fire and he fell to the floor wounded. He slithered back to the top of the staircase where he was rescued by his comrades. 

Dale was flown to Salisbury’s Andrew Fleming Hospital where it was discovered that his spinal cord had been severed and he was told that he would never walk again. He was paralysed from the chest down.

When Major Reid Daly visited him there and asked him how he was feeling, Dale said in a soft voice, “Sir, don’t worry about me…..you’ve got bigger things to worry about. It’s the chaps in the bush you’ve got to concentrate on….I’ll be fine.”

In Reid Daly’s words: “It was all too much for me…..here was a man struck down in the prime of his youth comforting me, instead of the reverse. I stood up abruptly and with tears welling unashamedly from my eyes, I brushed past the lady who was later to become Mrs. Collett and left the ward. ‘Hell’, exclaimed Dale to that very fine woman, ‘what’s up with the old man….I only told him to get on with the war’.” Dale and his wife were married, their wedding photo showing a happy looking bridegroom proudly wearing his military uniform and decorations as he sat in his wheelchair.

The courage that Dale had consistently shown in the field was now transferred to his new life as a civilian where his determination and positive attitude enabled him to lead as normal a life as he could in the circumstances.

After moving to Botswana he built up his own farm and business, employing local people who were themselves disabled. He also gave motivational talks. After a number of years he was helping to renovate his house when a roof collapsed on him, requiring his leg to be amputated and injuring his shoulder which, despite several surgeries, never really recovered.

And did he feel sorry for himself and wallow in self-pity? Remaining positive, he got his motor bike fitted with a flat-bed and rode it from Gaborone in Botswana to Cape Town (1,548 km) to raise funds for the Ray of Hope Foundation in Gaborone, which takes care of terminally ill children. This ride raised over 100,000 Rand. At the time he said, “The big problem in life is that very few of us take the bull by the horns. Get on the bike and ride! Stop dreaming about it, just do it.”

Dale Collett was not only a brave soldier who risked his life on several occasions so that civilians in war-torn Rhodesia could sleep more safely at night but also his courage in the face of almost unbelievable adversity is an inspiration to us all. He was among the very finest of his generation. May he rest in peace.