Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Sold by Order of the Recipient

The exceptionally rare and most probably unique six clasp G.S.M. group of three to Sergeant R. G. ‘Bob’ Walters, ‘A’ Squadron, 22 Special Air Service Regiment, who gained all of his clasps whilst serving with the S.A.S. - A veteran of numerous Special Forces actions his name was entered into the Guinness Book of Records in 1980, when he led a team in a cross-channel ‘HAHO’ (High Altitude High Opening) lateral fall from 25,000 feet wearing breathing apparatus and paragliding some 22 miles from Dover across to Sangatte, France

General Service 1962-2007, 6 clasps, Borneo, Radfan, Malay Peninsula, South Arabia, Dhofar, Northern Ireland (23472122 Tpr., SAS); Accumulated Campaign Service Medal (23472122 S Sgt, SAS); Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal, mounted court style as worn, good very fine and better (3) £8000-12000

The General Service Medal 1962-2007 with six clasps in this group is thought to be unique to the British Army and consultation with Major (Retired) Mick Atkinson, formerly of the Army Medal Office also confirms that to the best of his knowledge this is the case. All the clasps are verified as being awarded whilst serving with 22 Special Air Service

Warrant Officer Robert Geoffrey ‘Bob’ Walters was born in Cardiff in April 1941 into an army family, his father being a soldier in the 14/20 Hussars. Aged 15 he joined the army as a Boy Soldier at the Army Apprentice School, Arborfield, on 1 May, 1956, where he remained for the next three years. He then joined the REME as a Vehicle Mechanic, and was posted to Munster and Paderborn in West Germany, attached to the 10th Hussars.

His first brush with the SAS came on a major exercise which included the 10th Hussars. He was sleeping on top of a tank when he was abruptly woken by some strangely dressed men. They forced him to join his comrades, who had already been lined-up, and they all had their boots taken off them, before the strange men disappeared. Annoyed, Walters made his way, barefoot, to the nearby Royal Military Police section to complain. After telling the policeman about the loss of his boots the Military Policeman pointed down to his own bare feet and said “join the club mate”. On learning that the strange soldiers were from 21 SAS he decided there and then that if they could mess with Military Police with impunity, that was the job for him.

Special Air Service

Having passed selection, Walters joined 22 SAS in 1961 and was sent to 1 (Mountain) Troop of A Squadron.

Borneo

Walters deployed with 1 Troop to Borneo on three tours, two in 1963 and the last in 1965. On the last tour he was involved in a dramatic patrol (as told in Peter Dickens book ‘SAS The Jungle Frontier’) that encapsulates what the SAS does best.

On a reconnaissance of a suspected route used by the Indonesian army along the Koemba river, between Poeri and the enemy base at Kaik, a patrol led by Capt (later General Sir) Mike Wilkes containing Walters, Taff (the Rope) Evans and Alex Kilgour, with two Eban guides, discovered a hidden telephone wire. Having reported the discovery over their radio they were ordered to return to base. There they were given a tape recorder and told to go back and tap the wire. The four-man patrol, with the Eban guides, found the wire, attached the tap and then hid in the jungle close by. To protect and defend their location, two claymore mines were placed in front of them. For almost a week they recorded the enemy’s telephone communications and then, on the last day, a large patrol of some 12 men from the Indonesian elite J Battalion passed by. They stopped and sat down right opposite the hidden SAS patrol for a smoke break. Their leader then got up to pee and was seen to urinate right on top of one of the claymores. Wilkes suspected that the leader had spotted the device as, shortly afterwards, the Indonesian army patrol retired in the direction they had come from. The SAS team decided to terminate the mission and make for base. They were right to leave, as the enemy quickly returned with reinforcements and, in a long withdrawal that lasted 24 hours, with the enemy firing mortars, the SAS patrol was chased and harassed all the way back to the border.

Radfan

Only A Squadron from the SAS deployed to the Radfan, which they did in April/May 1964. They deployed on numerous patrols (one being the tragic Edwards patrol which resulted in two of its members being killed and decapitated). Although not part of the Edwards patrol, Walters witnessed its survivors returning and helped with the wounded. One patrol of note, involving Walters, consisted of a night-time ambush comprising 1 and 4 Troops, extended in a long line. Two terrorists entered the ambush and Walters, with the rest of 1 Troop, opened fire killing one of the men. The other, running for his life, escaped 1 Troop and was last heard laughing out load at his good fortune, only to be met with a hail of bullets from 4 Troop!

South Arabia (Aden)

Walters completed two tours of Aden with the SAS, the first at the end of 1964 and the second at the start of 1966. On the later tour he, almost single-handed, trained the Federal National Guard. During the first tour he participated in the Regiments well documented Keeni-Meeni patrols under the cover name Operation NINA. By day the SAS would wander around the town of Sheikh Othman, or in the Crater, dressed as ordinary soldier’s in the hope of enticing the terrorists to attack them, when other SAS men, disguised as Arabs, would shoot them. By night they would dress as Arabs and comb the side streets looking for terrorists.

During the second tour Walters had a narrow escape when he was ambushed. He was returning alone from ‘up country’ in an open-topped, armoured Landrover, and driving through Sheikh Othman when he was attacked. Driving around the bend at the infamous ‘grenade corner’, a Russian F1 grenade was thrown at him and landed just in front of his vehicle. Realising that he was heavily exposed, he purposely drove on top of the grenade and stopped the Landrover. He calculated that the armour under the vehicle would take the blast, which it did.

Also during the latter tour, Walters was directly responsible for finding a mine which could have killed the High Commissioner for Aden. The High Commissioner was due to meet with members of the new Provisional Government, and he was expected to arrive by helicopter. Following an explosion close to some Government buildings, Walters and another SAS man were tasked to check the area. The other Trooper discovered the seat of the explosion and Walters, who was checking the helicopter landing site, discovered two large anti-tank mines placed one on top of the other, the aim being to blow up the helicopter as it landed.

Malay Peninsula

Walters received the clasp for the Malay Peninsula whilst attending a language course in Singapore prior to deploying to Borneo in 1965.

Dhofar (Oman)

Having briefly left the army from April to November 1971, Walters returned to the Regiment and found himself in 2 Troop of A Squadron. With them, over the next six years, between 1972 and 1978, he conducted six operational tours of the Dhofar region of Oman. Patrolling, clearing Wadi’s of the Adoo and patiently chasing the enemy from the region became the routine for all SAS men during this period.

Not all SAS actions in Dhofar were of a military nature. Walters was tasked with an important ‘Hearts and Minds’ job as described in General Tony Jeapes book ‘SAS Secret War’. Walters led a team to bring medical aid to the inhabitants of the island of Al Hallaniyah in the Kuria Muria group, 25 miles off the coast. 16 out of the population of 83 had recently died, including all the islands’ babies. The SAS team, led by Walters, were so successful that they succeeded in curing all the islanders’ medical problems and, on his advice, the island had new houses, a clinic, village hall, mosque and school built a year after he left.

Northern Ireland

For obvious security reasons most of what Walters did in Northern Ireland cannot be divulged. He did, however, spend three years in the Province, on two separate tours, qualifying him for the additional award of the Accumulated Campaign Service Medal.

Parachuting

From October 1968 to March 1970 Walters was attached to the US Special Forces based at Bad Toltz, in West Germany. It was here that he gained his passion for freefall parachuting. In total he made about 2500 freefall jumps.

He is mentioned in the 1981 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for crossing the English Channel, along with 3 other soldiers and 2 Royal Marines. On 30 August, 1980, Walters, and the other five parachutists, jumped out of a specially modified aircraft over Dover from 25,000 feet. Due to the high altitude they were all wearing breathing apparatus. Having fallen 1,000 feet they deployed their parachutes in what is known as HAHO (High Altitude High Opening) and para-glided across the Channel, a distance of over 22 miles. They actually exceeded their target and, rather than land in Calais as planned, they landed several miles away in a farmer’s field. The farmer reported the strange looking men and they were quickly arrested by the French police for entering the country without passports!

Walters retired in 1986 and his discharge papers noted that he was fluent in German, Arabic and Malay and he was an expert in Signals, Medic, Demolitions and unarmed combat.

The A.C.S.M. was instituted in 1994 for 36 months of campaign service to be claimed retrospectively by service personnel who could prove qualification through their service records. This was often problematical for Special Forces soldiers whose classified postings were not clearly recorded on their service records. The same too with campaign medal and clasp claims to the S.A.S. which were sometimes not submitted due to the secret nature of their work and the fact that they were frequently posted overseas in small teams outside of the usual umbrella of army administration. All of Bob Walters medals and clasps were awarded correctly at the time, other than his Malay Peninsula clasp which was issued by the M.O.D. Medal Office in May 2014, with a qualifying date of 6 May 1965. The claim for his A.C.S.M. was approved in July 2013, with a qualifying date of 12 November 1981. Sold with eight photographs including recipient, copies of Certificate of Service ‘Red Book’ confirming Borneo, Radfan, South Arabia, Northern Ireland and Dhofar clasps and paperwork from the M.O.D. Medal Office confirming issue of Malay Peninsula clasp and A.C.S.M.