The Collection of Medals Formed by Bill and Angela Strong

The campaign medal awarded to Captain David Bulleid, Special Air Service, formerly Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and Lancashire Fusiliers, who was wounded by a grenade fragment in Dhofar and subsequently whilst contracted to the Dubai Palace Guard played a pivotal roll in preparing the Special Forces rescue operations from the hijacked Lufthansa Flight LH181

General Service 1962, 1 clasp, Dhofar (Capt., RRF) extremely fine £1200-1500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Bill and Angela Strong Medal Collection.

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Captain David L. H. Bulleid was born in Newcastle in 1945 and attended Ampleforth School. He was commissioned from Sandhurst College into the Lancashire Fusiliers in the rank of Second Lieutenant in July 1966, subsequently serving with the Royal Anglian Regiment and Royal Regiment of Fusiliers before passing selection for the Special Air Service in 1970. He commanded 6 (Boat) Troop, B Squadron, 22 Special Air Service for a time and was wounded in Dhofar when he was hit by a grenade fragment on 6 December 1971 whilst training for Operation Jaguar. He resigned his commission in November 1972.

David Bullied (sic.) is mentioned numerous times in the book, Fire Magic, Hijack at Mogadishu, by Barry Davies, B.E.M. which details the authors involvement in assisting the S.A.S. whilst he was working under contract for the Dubai Palace Guard when the hijacked Lufthansa Flight LH181 landed at Dubai airport in October 1977. The rescue operation was essentially a German led operation using their Special Forces troops known as GSG9 as well as two members of the British Special Air Service. The plane landed at a total of six different airports prior to being stormed by the Special Forces soldiers at Mogadishu airport after the pilot had been executed by the terrorists. Three of the four terrorists were shot dead and most of the remaining passengers and crew were freed alive and unharmed.

Sold with confirmation that the G.S.M., clasp, Dhofar was claimed by the recipient whilst based in Dubai in November 1981.

The following is extracted from the book, Fire Magic: Hijack at Mogadishu, by Barry Davies, B.E.M. a copy of which is included with the lot:

‘Then luck smiled on us: we saw a European officer whom we recognised. It was David Bullied, an ex-SAS man working under contract for the Dubai Palace Guard. from that point, events took a completely different turn. Without David’s help, at that moment and subsequently throughout the rescue operation, we might never have achieved the success that we did. He proved absolutely indispensable to us.

David had served as a troop commander with the SAS a few years before, and since leaving had been seconded to the Dubai Defence Force. As the SAS trained the soldiers of the Palace Guard, David found himself working with them. One great advantage was that he had a lot of muscle with the Defence Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rachid, the man now in charge of dealing with the hijack in Dubai. David suggested introducing us to the Sheikh, so, brushing aside protests from immigration, and under his protection, we regained our passports and made our way to the control tower.

As we walked, David admitted that the Dubai Defence Force had put together a spontaneous team that could storm the aircraft if the terrorists started to shoot hostages. He stressed that the men were working in the dark and had no previous training in anti-terrorist drills. David was extremely helpful in many other ways - for instance, he had already primed some of the best soldiers from the Palace Guard to assist us. Should things escalate and the terrorists start to shoot the hostages systematically, we would need all the immediate help we could get. Also, his position within the Dubai military structure allowed him - and subsequently the boss and me - great freedom around the airport.

When we got to the control tower... there were several prominent people in attendance, who included Sheikh Mohammed. David Bullied introduced us, explaining that we were SAS specialists and that the British Prime Minister had sent us to lend assistance...

After a while we agreed that there was little we could do until the morning, and we all needed some sleep. It was decided that the Germans should go and stay at a nearby hotel, which David duly arranged, while the boss and I went home with David. We arranged to meet again in a few hours time to draw up a more detailed plan which could be used to assault the aircraft with the force now available.

Luckily, David’s comfortable home was only a few minutes from the airport... David made furiously scribbled notes, as well as lists of required kit and equipment which seemed to grow ever longer. Our most expensive request was for the use of a 737 aircraft - this was essential for training and practice if we were to stand any chance of success. Around 5am we all went to bed - except for the tireless David Bullied, who left to make further arrangements. A couple of hours later, as the boss and I, much refreshed, were having breakfast, he returned with the news that he had managed to fulfil most of our equipment demands and it was now being assembled at the airport...

On the personnel side, our resources were limited to a core of eight men who had received at least some professional CQB (close quarter battle) training, and four who needed rapid training. Luckily, both Alastair and David Bullied were well trained as were the two Arab members of the Palace Guard... I had never personally met David Bullied before, but I must say his exceptional qualities and involvement at Dubai have never been fully accredited to him.’

Before it was possible for the plane to be stormed at Dubai airport the hijacked plane suddenly took off ultimately bound for Mogadishu where the plane was successfully stormed by the special forces troops who followed it there.