Military Medal

“I joined up as a youngster for a bit of fun, but it didn’t turn out like that. We were young men made old before our time.”

Soldiers are often associated with hard drinking – but rarely temperance.

Major Henry Milligan of the Royal Army Medical Corps not only won a Military Cross for bravery in the First World War in 1917, but gained another one.

The medal group of a colonel believed to be the most heavily decorated Military Police officer in the history of the corps sold for a mid-estimate £2400.

The world record for a George Cross has been broken by a medal awarded to a courageous British soldier who died in captivity during the Korean War.

Among the highlights of the year at Spink was a group of 17 medals awarded to Air Vice-Marshal Sir Matthew Brown ‘Bunty’ Frew (1895-1974).

The Medals, Orders and Decorations sale at Morton & Eden in November featured two Victoria Crosses awarded during the Indian Mutiny. They sold to the same buyer for a combined hammer price of £300,000.

Dix Noonan Webb’s highest-priced lot of 2020 was this Crimean War Naval Brigade Victoria Cross group of four sold for £240,000 on October 15. The estimate was £120,000-160,000.

After a somewhat chequered period before the war, during which his employment ranged from gold-digging and sailing the South Sea Islands to running a camel racing team and a betting shop, Lt Hubert (Ted) Carse of the the Royal Australian Naval Reserve ended up as a hero.

Hughie Green (1920-97) is well known as star of film, radio and TV, such as Opportunity Knocks – and a colourful personal life such as being father to Paula Yates. However, he also had a long and eventful career in aviation.

The Falklands War was 38 years ago now. However, for medal collectors the conflict is very much in mind, as evidenced by two six-figure results recently at London saleroom Dix Noonan Webb (24% buyer’s premium).

Two Victoria Cross medals awarded during the Indian Mutiny offered by Morton & Eden (20% buyer’s premium) in London sold to the same buyer.

A First World War ‘dead man’s penny’ memorial plaque awarded to a soldier believed to be the first black officer commissioned into a British army regiment during the conf lict and the first black officer casualty is coming up at auction.

As heroic a defence against the odds as Rorke’s Drift, and certainly more important, the twin battles of Imphal and Kohima are much less well known.

A Military Cross group awarded to a soldier who carried a fallen comrade through fierce gunfire in Iraq sold at £36,000 (plus 20% buyer ’s premium) in Macclesfield on September 11.

It is not unusual to see Victoria Crosses making huge sums at auction, but last week the man who made these medals of gallantry was the one in the spotlight.