Bear cub had helping paw in SAS soldier’s recovery from broken back
AMAZING STORY OF HOW ANIMAL BECAME MASCOT FOR THE MOST FAMOUS REGIMENT IN THE WORLD
HE was trained to kill with the most famous regiment in the world.
But Jerry Mulcahy’s softer side played a part in the legend of the SAS B Squadron’s bear.
The secret of the bear paw on the elite unit’s insignia dates back 60 years after Jerry parachuted into the Malayan jungle and broke his back – and ended up fostering a honey bear cub.
The 1958 hush-hush mission to quell an uprising went painfully wrong for Jerry, but he was still to play a part in a regiment folklore.
The 82-year-old widower, who has six grandchildren and eight greatgrandchildren, said: “I was in the Paras at 17 and then transferred to SAS after passing selection which as everyone knows is tough.
“I did six-and-a-half years with the SAS before being medically discharged thanks to hitting a tree 200ft up and this rotten branch snapping.
“When I was eventually rescued, I was taken to base camp on a homemade stretcher aboard a helicopter. It was found my back was broken. To cheer me, up a bloke called Tommo (Trooper Peter Thompson) handed me the bear cub which was not much more than six inches long that he’d found abandoned for safe keeping.”
Trooper Thompson had found the bear hiding while on patrol and adopted it as natives warned its mother would kill it after having contact with humans. He and Jerry then looked after Chieftan (named after the soldiers’ jungle operation) even accompanying them to drinking dens in Kuala Lumpur.
Jerry added: “I was in a lot of pain in a corset. The bear cheered me up no end as I tried to get better. He raised our spirits at a dangerous time.
“He’d sleep with me like a real lifeteddy bear, eat porridge or whatever we were having, believe it or not shower with the lads – and go for little walks around the camp like a pet dog.
“Once we were out on patrol, and there was a big fuss because someone had broken radio silence to report that Chieftan must be pinning for Jerry because we had been away from base camp for so long. I can’t imagine what the enemy thought of that message, probably only confused them!
“Chieftan did start getting out of control as he got bigger because it wasn’t of course natural for a bear to live in a camp with soldiers. He was getting the best medical care and because he was so popular there were attempts to have him made into the official SAS mascot. But sadly, he died of pneumonia. But he’s not been forgotten at our headquarters in Hereford where photographs of Chieftan enjoy pride of place in the bar and SAS metal lapel badges were made featuring a bear paw.”
The story has made Jerry something of a legend in his own right at his local bookies at Kirkway, Middleton, and he was nominated by Betfred staff as the customer of the month as part of the bookie’s 50 anniversary celebrations.
“There was only going to be one winner and who is going to argue with the SAS?” said Betfred boss Fred Done, who ensured Jerry was handed £100 in free bets as well as free brews for life at the shop. A FORMER supermarket looks set to be knocked down to make way for a new health centre and library.
Plans to turn what was Tesco Metro in Little Lever, Bolton, into a modern new facility have been in the pipeline since the store moved from Market Street to Crossley Street at the end of 2014.
Two planning applications for the project have been approved – one in September 2016 and another in November last year – both of which involved converting the building, rather than a full rebuild.
But it is expected that Bolton council chiefs will give the go-ahead to knock it down and start again at next week’s cabinet meeting.
In a tweet sent to sent to Labour ward councillor David Evans, council leader Linda Thomas said: “We have listened to your concerns about a new library for Little Lever and have agreed with you it should be a new build, not a refurb.”
Coun Evans said he was delighted with the news – which still has to be signed off by the cabinet – adding that it was his ‘preferred option.’
He said: “When you are in the building game, if you start with a blank piece of paper you can bespoke it to whatever you want. In the end that made far more sense, subject to finances.”
But UKIP leader Sean Hornby, who also represents Little Lever, questioned why it had take until now to seemingly decide the building was not fit for the proposed purpose.