The Washing of the Spears

DJG Palmer was born in Kent to a pre-war father, who believed boys should explore castles and read books about knights and pirates, rather than play computer games or watch videos, so he grew up playing around ruins and reading dog-eared Ladybird history books. At the age of eight, he opened his grandfather's chest in the attic to discover the baton, pips, and medals of a WW2 army officer, and came to understand the grim realities that lay behind the martial emblems bestowed upon those who survive their service.

Before the lifting of the ban on gay people serving in the armed forces, in his early years of manhood, DJG Palmer embarked upon writing Babanango, resulting in fellowships of the Anglo-Zulu War Historical and Royal Geographical Societies, despite a lack of formal further education at the time. He then set aside the military, and military fiction, for a career in policing, and later found love with a wonderful man, the love and bedrock of his life.

The death of a friend, mentor, and former army officer moved him to dust off the Babanango manuscript and revisit its contents, reawakening the untold story of the men who must have lived, loved, and died together in secret, serving in the armed forces before the 21st century. This story is for those men, whoever they were, and the friends and allies who had their backs.