Iraq war hero is selling his bravery medal to raise £140

Iraq war hero who single-handedly stormed two enemy positions is selling his bravery medal to raise £140k for a family home

• Former soldier to sell his own gallantry medal that he won for his bravery
• He wants to put the expected £140,000 proceeds towards a home for his family 
• Sale raises the issue of veterans having to sell medals to get on property ladder 

Pinned down by enemy fire in the searing heat of the Iraq desert, 21-year-old Corporal Shaun Jardine decided there was only one way out of his predicament.

He single-handedly stormed two enemy positions before calling forward the rest of his patrol to drive the enemy from a third.

Now, he is selling the gallantry medal he won for his bravery that day 18 years ago. 

The father of two has left the Army after rising to the rank of Warrant Officer and wants to put the expected £140,000 proceeds towards a home for his family.

Pinned down by enemy fire in the searing heat of the Iraq desert, 21-year-old Corporal Shaun Jardine decided there was only one way out of his predicament. He single-handedly stormed two enemy positions before calling forward the rest of his patrol to drive the enemy from a third

He was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross. It is second only to the Victoria Cross for gallantry and was introduced in 1993. It is the only CGC awarded to a member of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers.

A painting by military artist David Rowlands and owned by the regiment immortalised his courageous action. A print of that painting is being sold with the CGC and WO Jardine’s campaign medals. 

The sale again raises the issue of veterans having to sell medals to get on the property ladder.

Now 39, WO Jardine, from Dumfries in Scotland, joined the Army aged 16 and was deployed to Iraq in June 2003.

A painting by military artist David Rowlands and owned by the regiment immortalised his courageous action. A print of that painting is being sold with the CGC and WO Jardine’s campaign medals

Recalling the action in Maysan province in which he won his medal, he said: ‘I started running across the bridge. They were lying down and firing… I remember thinking, Why are they not hitting me?… I got to within 15 to 20 metres of them. I dropped to one knee, aimed, fired one round, quickly moved on to the second, and fired again.

‘My rounds went into the chest, under the arm, and came out the back of the neck. Both guys were instantly dead.’

He also served in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, and took part in exercises in the Falklands, Cyprus, Jordan, Kenya, Canada and Germany.

His last role was senior staff officer instructor at Glasgow and Strathclyde universities’ officer training corps. He left the Army earlier this year.

The sale at Dix Noonan Webb of London is on July 21.

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