The father of a BBC safari guide killed defending his party from a rampaging elephant received a bravery award for his son from the Queen today.
Anton Turner, a former Army captain, died instantly when he was charged by the bull elephant as he led an expedition across Tanzania three years ago. He was 38.
Today his father Tim Turner, a retired Army major, collected the Queen’s Gallantry Medal, below, at Buckingham Palace. It was posthumously awarded to his son in recognition of his heroism in saving the lives of the film crew, which included three children.
Mr Turner told the Standard: “We feel extremely honoured but we feel that it’s something that he really, really deserved. Obviously we are very, very sad that such a young and talented and good person has had to leave us.
“He was an extraordinary person. He refused to move out of its path. He shouted at the elephant to try to drive it away. The elephant didn’t give up either. But because he stood there, it meant the others had the opportunity to get away and hide or take cover. Anton had no fear of anything, man or beast.”
Anton, who was born in Lymington, Hampshire, had been working for the CBBC series Serious Explorers, which was recreating Dr David Livingstone’s journey across Africa. His fiancée Sara Kessel was pregnant at the time with their first child and she gave birth to Ana Mia in April 2010 in London. “The other thing that is of concern to us is he has left a little girl who he never saw, and she never saw him,” his father said.
Mr Turner served in Northern Ireland and Bosnia but quit the Army in 1997, starting work in Africa three years later. He qualified as a professional hunter and guide and trekked across Ethiopia with adventurer Bruce Parry. He also worked as a security adviser to BBC news crews working in war-torn parts of Iraq, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Afghanistan.
Tim Turner will attend today’s investiture with wife Patricia, daughter Georgina and her three children. Ms Kessel is unable to attend as she has moved to Kenya with Ana Mia.
Mr Turner said: “Not a day goes past when something doesn’t happen which reminds us of Anton. He is constantly in our mind. We live with it now — we have got to get on with it. That is the way he would want it.”
