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Auction: 21001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals (conducted behind closed doors)
Lot: 305

(x) The Operational Service Medal awarded to Guardsman C. E. Thomas, Welsh Guards, who was severely wounded and had his life saved by Sergeant Williams, Royal Tank Regiment, when his Viking plunged into a deep canal in Afghanistan in 2009

Operational Service Medal 2000, for Afghanistan, 1 clasp, Afghanistan (Gdsm C E Thomas WG 25169408), good very fine

C. E. Thomas was serving with the Welsh Guards when he was severely wounded and nearly drowned in Afghanistan. The events - which began with his Viking crashing into a deep canal - are best recalled by Toby Harnden in Dead Men Risen - The Welsh Guards and the defining story of Britain's War in Afghanistan:

'Williams, commander of the Viking 40 metres behind, had seen the vehicle go in, told Owen to drive up to it, jumped off and slid down the bank. By the time he reached under the water and pulled the door handle open, the men had been trapped inside for at least two minutes. The first thing he saw was kit everywhere - eleectronic jamming packs, rucksacks, rifles, helmets - that he just pulled out and threw into the canal. The first man to be grabbed was Cometson, who came to, retching and vomiting on the canal bank. Ten seconds after Williams got there, more soldiers began to arrive. Soon there were nearly a dozen, pulling people out and forming a chain up the bank to the medics.

Young had come to when the door came open. It felt like dawn breaking. But his arm was stuck and Williams couldn't pull their heads out of the water and reach the air pocket in the three-quarters-filled rear cab, were clambering over him, pushing his head back underwater. 'Leave him, he's gone,' Young heard someone say. Hill was in severe shock. 'What happened? Where's my weapon?' he was saying. Three men were now out and on the bank. Next to come was Barber, grabbed by Guardsman Carew, one of the two Welsh Guardsmen who had been so traumatised by picking up body parts under fire when Marine Jason Mackie had been killed back in May. Young, normally unflappable, was freaking out, fearing he might drown every time his head was plunged back in the water as Williams and Spencer-Smith tried to free him. Trooper Tom 'Mo' Morris, his nails red raw, unhooked Young's body armour and helped haul him out as Young screamed: 'Get me f----ing out of here! Get me out of here!'

The scene on the bank was chaotic. Several Welsh Guardsmen were in shock at seeing their friends drown and some were weeping. Others were angry, jumping to the conclusion that the driver of the sumberged Viking had fallen asleep or lost concentration. As Trooper Owen, driver of the Viking behind, ran back to get a stretcher from his vehicle, a young Guardsman confronted him 'Where the f--k's the driver?' he said, 'I'm going to kill him!' Owen, a burly, heavily tattooed Brummie, was having none of it. 'You know, you aren't helping so just f--k off', brushing past him.

Amid all the confusion and shouting, Williams was trying to establish whether there was still anyone left in the Viking. The move had been so disorganised that no one knew who or how many men had been in each vehicle. 'They're all out', one Guardsman said. But Williams wasn't satisfied, grabbed a torch from him and went into the cab. Holding the torch in his mouth, he used his hand to feel around and put his head underneath the water to try and see. Others were behind him as he shouted: 'F---ing hell, I've got one here.' It was Biggs, Williams pulled him out and continued to feel around until he found Thomas 08, who was caught up in a rifle sling. Once he was out, Williams did a final check that there was no one left. When Biggs came out, his pallor was blue-grey, his tongue distended and his eyes dry and staring straight ahead. After 30 seconds of CPR, he coughed and vomited. He was alive and being comforted by Carew. Shortly afterwards, Biggs went into acute shock, his whole body shaking.

Initially, few thought that Thomas 08 would make it. His eyes had rolled back, his tongue was so distended it was touching his earlobe and he was completely blue. Guardsman Davis 51, one of those helping on the bank, looked at him and thought: 'S--t, we've lost another boy'. Captain Spencer-Smith, exhausted from pulling men out of the Viking and certain that two or more of his Guardsmen were dead, sat on the bank and wept. It took Williams and two Medics several minutes to revive Thomas 08 and he began coughing up blood.'

Having been resuscitated, Thomas was flown back for further treatment on the Alexander Wing at Selley Oak Hospital; sold together with a letter from Colonel Malcolm, 13 July 2009, in which he is identified as 'Thomas 08'.

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Sold for
£520

Starting price
£210