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Auction: 22133 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 1236

The fascinating Special Forces Cyprus EOKA Emergency, Borneo "Operation Claret" Koemba Ambush 1966, Aden 1967, Dhofar "Secret War" 1971 casualty, and Northern Ireland Covert Operations long service group four miniature Dress Medals awarded to Warrant Officer 2nd Class and Squadron Sergeant Major J.K. 'Kevin' Walsh, 22nd Special Air Service Regiment, who saw service with both 'B' and 'D' Squadrons; formerly 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, Walsh completed a tour of Cyprus with Support Company of 1 PARA in 1958, before going on to forge a career which saw him become a Special Forces legend, despite being only just over 5 ft tall and 'advertising all those well known features that led him to being christened "the Airborne Wart"'

Oman, Peace Medal, with Sultan's Operational Award emblem upon riband; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Cyprus; General Service 1962-2007, 4 clasps, Borneo, South Arabia, Dhofar, Northern Ireland; Army L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., Regular Army, mounted court-style as worn, some polishing and tarnishing otherwise good fine and better (4)

As part of 18 Troop with 'D' Squadron in Borneo between July and September 1966, during the "Claret" operations, Walsh would go down in SAS history for his part in what became known as the Koemba Ambush, when as part of a four-man patrol under "Lofty" Large, and along with Pete Scholey and Paddy Millikin, he penetrated the furthest into enemy territory in order to attack shipping on the Koemba River which was supplying Indonesian forces. This was a mission accomplished by crossing extreme terrain through jungle and swamp, in the most hostile of environments - not even taking into account the armed enemy trying to thwart their every move.
Later in Aden in 1967 - as part of 18 Troop with "Lofty" Large - his sense of humour came to the fore in a troop 'of which he was a character amongst a great bunch of characters'. Another member of the Troop, Keith Farnes, would later recount: 'Shooting came from the distant jebel. Patrol grovels in dust except for Lofty who stands there (all 6' 4" of him) saying that these guys couldn't hit a barn door from the inside and Kevin screeching: "We know Lofty, but in missing you they might hit me. Get down you fool". Too close for comfort it may have been, but on a tour of southern Oman during the 'Secret War' in Dhofar against the Adoo Rebels, with the imminent departure of his own 'B' Squadron, he was tasked with remaining on two weeks to help 'G' Squadron settle in. As such he was tasked with re-occupying a very high risk position known as 'Tawe a Tair', a position for which the Adoo would put up a fierce resistance. Walsh had previously spent two weeks at 'Tawe a Tair', and was tasked with the reoccupying of the position as he knew the area. To accompany him were two local Firquas, who were surrendered enemy soldiers subsequently retrained by the SAS to fight against the units they had left. As Farnes recalls: "Kevin had no problem with the two week extension of his tour; the problem arose when he was told that he'd have two Firquas with him. "Is that two platoons, Sir, or two companies?" he asked. "Neither," replied the squadron commander, "You'll have two leading scouts from the Firquas!" "Two blokes?" Kevin went berserk. "What do you mean, two blokes? No way! I wouldn't want to lead on that position with two brigades." Nevertheless he successfully did it and then beat off an enemy attack through his superb skill with a mortar. Farnes recalled: "Kevin took command of the mortar and, yelling fire instructions and adjustments, he directed a rain of deadly-accurate high explosives on his opposite number. The exchange continued until the Adoo were seen to be withdrawing, carrying with them a number of wounded. 'G' Squadron retained possession of 'Tawe a Tair.'"
However on his fourth tour of Oman in 1971, Walsh was wounded by machine-gun fire, in a painful yet also hilarious incident, in the defence of a position known as 'Pork Chop Hill'. Farnes again recalls: "Kevin's group was settling into a new position, going about the business of setting up its base camp, when suddenly the rocks and dust around their feet were spat into the air as their position was raked with machine-gun fire. The men dived for the cover of their sangars, getting their heads down and shouting to each other to establish from where the incoming rounds were being fired. Where were the Adoo? Kevin had a more immediate problem than finding out where the Adoo were. He needed to get himself under cover. He was nowhere near a sangar (although he later always maintained that he couldn't get into one because they were all full of officers), so dived behind a stack of jerry cans. Cover from view, however, as any infantryman will tell you, is not cover from fire. A jerry can full of water might be enough to stop a bullet. Unfortunately, the jerry cans Kevin was hiding behind were all empty. He was hit in the arse. Kevin was carried to a casevac helicopter, complaining bitterly not about his wound, but about the idiot medic who had left a morphine syringe sticking into his bum. Word quickly got around that the "airborne wart" had been wounded and exactly where that wound was situated. Kevin was far from pleased about that. When one ranking officer paid a visit to the hospital he commiserated with Kevin about having been shot in the arse. Kevin could stand it no more. "Listen, Sir." he hissed. "I've told everyone else and now I'm telling you - it's not my arse it's my upper thigh!" An SAS NCO who was on hand quickly stepped in to explain: "What you have to understand, Sir, is that Kevin's arse starts at the back of his neck and goes all the way down to his ankles…"

A couple of tours in Northern Ireland followed during the early to mid 1970's, as well as a number of 'operations' in Germany with the 'Berlin Brigade' during the Cold War, and he ultimately ended up serving for a period on the permanent staff of 'C' Squadron 21 SAS (TA), where he rose to the rank of Squadron Sergeant Major, before joining the Sultan of Oman's Special Forces as a Training Captain with the Jebali unit in Dhofar and taking part in the final operations against the Aboos during 1984, those very same rebels who had wounded him back in 1971. Known as much for his antics and humour as for his prowess as a solider, having taken part in the Rolex-sponsored trans-Africa expedition to a Regimental Study Day and stepped on stage and into the spotlight to the dramatic music from "Lawrence of Arabia", his presentation Rolex watch dangling from his wrist. "The Airborne Wart" had come home covered in glory; he rated it as one of his greatest moments of triumph. The Regiment took five minutes to stop laughing… After his death in 1986, his obituarist wrote: 'I know only this, and I am sure that it is a thought shared by all those privileged to know him: he undoubtedly filled the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run and the world will be a smaller place without him. He was a soldier, a character, a man's man (amazingly when liked him too!), and a great friend.' An SAS legend, the "Airborne Wart" has a chapter devoted to him in Pete Scholey's book 'SAS Heroes - Remarkable Soldiers, Extraordinary Men' and is also well written up in Peter Dickens book 'SAS in Borneo'.

Sold with an original black-and-white photograph of the recipient, 85mm x 135mm.


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Sold for
£320

Starting price
£130