A Bradford pensioner has spoken of his pride after his army officer son became a hero by risking his own life to smuggle 30 terrified East Timorese people to safety.

Major John Petrie, whose father Kenneth lives in West Bowling, drove through militia roadblocks and Indonesian army checkpoints with pro-independence supporters hidden under cartons of water.

Major Petrie, a former deputy head boy of Belle Vue Grammar School who now lives in London, is a military police officer working for the United Nations Mission in East Timor.

The 40-year-old hid the East Timorese people in the back of his Land Rover and helped get them to safety at a camp in the mountains.

His East Timor trip is the latest in a series of dangerous assignments including North-ern Ireland, Bosnia, the Gulf and Kosovo.

His wife Jo told the Telegraph & Argus: "We're very proud of what he's done but then we're proud of him all the time.

"Our boys are away at school so I phoned them last night and our eldest son said 'my daddy's a hero'.

"This is our life. It's what John chose to do and that's what we support him in. He enjoys it, he's good at his job."

She said even though her husband had been in many dangerous situations, she had been feeling nervous since trouble flared in East Timor earlier this month after he went there in August.

Kenneth Petrie, 74, said: "I feel very proud but concerned for him.

"I was more concerned previously when I saw him on television and when he was in the place where all the refugees had gathered.

"He pointed out the bullet holes in the walls and said he was very, very surprised nobody had been killed."

Major Petrie's family hope he will be home by the end of November.

The people he saved were members of the family with whom he and other United Nations staff had been staying.

He had an emotional reunion with them in their mountain camp last week.

Major Petrie's sister is Elizabeth Hartshorne who is a nurse at Bradford Royal Infirmary. His mother Audrey died in 1985.

After leaving Liverpool Polytechnic, he went into the RAF. After that he worked for the Abbey National and the civilian police in Dorset before going into the army in 1986.

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