Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Lance Corporal D. J. Bailey, Royal Anglian Regiment, who served as a Sniper in Afghanistan during Operation Veritas and was severely wounded in action during an enemy ambush at Sangin on 17 May 2007- bleeding profusely he was dragged to safety by fellow sniper Lance Corporal O. Ruecker from his blazing Viking armoured vehicle amid a barrage of bullets and rocket fire - for his gallantry Ruecker was awarded the Military Cross

Iraq 2003, no clasp (25133843 Pte D J Bailey R Anglian); Operational Service Medal 2000, for Afghanistan, 1 clasp, Afghanistan (25133843 LCpl D J Bailey R Anglian) in named card box of issue, the first mounted as worn, extremely fine (2) £600-800

Dean J. Bailey was born in 1984 and educated at Sir William de Ferrers School, South Woodham, Essex. He joined the Army in 2003 and excelled, passing the demanding sniper course at the first attempt. After serving with the Royal Anglian Regiment in Iraq, he was promoted Lance Corporal and served with ‘B’ Company, 1st Battalion in Afghanistan. On 6 May 2007 he had his first contact with the enemy, recounting to his fellow snipers how he had ‘got my first kill: dropped a Taliban at 900 metres, on the move, running from right to left, with an AK.’ (Attack State Red, by Colonel Richard Kemp refers). But his elation would not last long. On 17 May 2007, whilst travelling in a convoy of Viking armoured vehicles near the town of Sangin, Helmand Province, his platoon was caught-up in a deadly ambush. Attack State Red takes up the story:

‘The heavily-armed convoy trundled along the dusty and near deserted streets of Sangin, a battered town that had become a bloody battleground.
From a clearing between the 10ft high mud walls that lined either side of the road, two local men appeared pushing a rusty old black Nissan car. It rolled into the path of Pte Josh Lee's Viking armoured vehicle, forcing it to the right. Then a rocket-propelled grenade shot through the air and with a deafening explosion smashed into the top of another Viking in the column.
Lee, who was riding top cover, saw the terrified look on his mate's face as L/Cpl Dean Bailey threw himself down into the cab. He tore off his burning helmet and body armour and seconds later he was back up, firing his SA80 rifle at the Taliban swarming over the compound roofs.
"Three enemy left..." came the shout from the forward turret of Lee's Viking as he swung his light machine gun to engage. He dropped a gunman on the wall 40 yards away. Then came the thumping of an anti-aircraft machine gun being fired. It started to hose down the British column, red tracer streaking in behind Lee's vehicle.
The B company convoy, commanded by Major Mick Aston, had been on its way to British and Afghan patrol bases, which come under daily attack from insurgents. With them were 7 Platoon and Fire Support Group Bravo in five Viking armoured personnel carriers and two WMIKs, heavily-armed Land Rovers. Inside Bailey's wrecked burning Viking, sniper Teddy Ruecker ordered: "Everyone out," as he booted open the heavy steel door and grabbed Bailey's leg. "Deano, get out mate... we're going, now!" he yelled just before another rocket hit. Bailey had not made it out of the turret and the warhead exploded next to him almost tearing away his arm. The shock wave punctured his lung. Shrapnel smashed through his mouth and into the back of his head, fracturing his lower jaw. The blaze on top of the vehicle melted his right hand. An AK47 bullet tore into his chest.
Ruecker escaped with Sgt Woodrow and eight engineers, who threw themselves against a mud wall. Woodrow raked the attackers with his SA80. Ruecker dashed into an alley and straight into a black-bearded Taliban fighter who was firing his AK47 into the air. As a sniper Number One Ruecker carried an Accuracy International .338 rifle and a Browning pistol, which he drew and fired into the man's gut and shoulder. He shot the fighter another 11 times then cursed himself for firing so many rounds. He quickly reloaded and sprinted back to Woodrow and the engineers, who were climbing into the back of Lee's vehicle. Lee blasted away with his Minimi light machine gun to keep the enemy's heads down. But where was Bailey? "Where's Deano?" Ruecker shouted. "I am going to get him. I'm not leaving him." Fourteen soldiers squeezed into the cab of the Viking, meant to carry only eight, as he carried on blasting away.
Ruecker sprinted the 70 yard-long killing zone, looking for Bailey. Nearby, an RPG exploded against the turret of Aston's Viking, which knocked him off his feet. Gunner Marine McNeil was hit. He screamed and held his hands to his face, an eye torn from its socket. Aston started treating him but as he moved, a second rocket scored a direct hit. Ruecker reached Bailey's burning Viking and saw him lying face down, covered in blood and oil. Company doc Major Andrew Tredget appeared beside him and they pulled Bailey out. His rib-cage was exposed. Ruecker screamed: "He's my mate. My hand was in his chest. Oh my God... " They carried Bailey back to another vehicle, his body limp and slippery with blood. The doctor squeezed in beside him but there was no room left for Ruecker. The young sniper nodded as the door closed and, on his own again, he ran back through the fire and the bullets. Exhausted and covered in blood and sweat he made it to Lee's wagon. Troops started trying to treat him. "It's Deano's blood - not mine," he screamed. "I'm not injured." He started shaking uncontrollably and crying. "Teddy, it's OK, mate. We're about to move out of here," one told him.
Sgt Major Snow calmly walked back through the bullets to tell Aston about Bailey's dreadful wounds. "Sir, I'm holding forward OK, doesn't look like too many more enemy there. The Company sergeant major's been trying to get you on the net. He's got a T One (a soldier with a life threatening injury) that needs evacuating quick." "Ok, we're going to head back the way we came, back to Forward Operating Base Robinson. "Who knows what's ahead? Could be another ambush or roadside bombs." Snow walked back to his Land Rover and relayed Aston's orders to all vehicles, then told his driver to push forward to the bend in the road and hold the position.
Back at Forward Operating Base Robinson, acting operations officer David Broomfield sat in his office - a baking hot steel freight container.
Captain Dave Robinson's voice came over the company net. "FOB Rob, this is Copper Two Two Alpha - contact, ambush, wait out."
A sentry manning one of the Sangar lookout posts reported on the radio: "I can see a huge pile of smoke over Sangin. I can hear many explosions..." Broomfield ordered over the intercom: "Tower, stand to, stand to. Look in the direction of Sangin and report." As the tower confirmed, Robinson came back on the company net. "Fob Rob, Fob Rob, this is Copper Two Two Alpha. Reference contact, we have one times One casualty, we are taking heavy fire from multiple firing points. We have a vehicle burning. Wait out." Broomfield put the company medics on alert, ready to receive casualties. He ordered 5 Platoon to get ready to storm into Sangin and help in a rescue.
He then contacted the battle group operations centre at Camp Bastion, demanding a MERT helicopter. The medical emergency response team had an HC2 Chinook heavy-lift craft equipped for casualty evacuation.
Back at the ambush scene inside one of the Vikings, Robinson - B Company's second-in-command - cradled a man's head in his hands as he spoke to Broomfield on the radio. The soldier's regimental insignia had been blown off with his shirt. There was so much blood his face was completely unrecognisable. He had a huge hole in the back of his head, his wounds so bad that Robinson assumed he was dead. He put his hand into the soldier's mouth and felt a breath on his skin. "Doc, doc, this guy's alive," he said. The wounded soldier pushed himself up with one arm and let out a groan. The doc, jammed in at the other end of the wagon, yelled back: "Get some oxygen on him - now! Everybody get out your field dressings and find a bleeding point." Robinson grabbed the oxygen mask and pressed it firmly over the injured man's face. Some of the troops were so tightly packed together they could not reach their dressings. Instead they shoved their fists into the open wounds of the soldier now spreadeagled beneath them, desperately trying to stop him bleeding to death.
Robinson felt around the man's bloody neck and found his dog tags. What he read shocked him. Now this was personal. L/Cpl Dean Bailey had been one of his boys when he led sniper platoon a few months earlier. They had been a particularly tight-knit team. "Dean, Dean, you are going to be OK, mate. The helicopter is on the way to get you."
The Taliban machine-gun crew that had been killed when the ambush began had been replaced and was firing again from the same spot in the open ground. Robinson's Viking bounced along, throwing Bailey's badly broken body from floor to roof. The column drove as fast as possible back to Forward Operating Base Robinson, screaming past the guard post. The medics took Bailey into the medical centre. Tredget followed them in and he and a US Army doctor went to work. At the same time, the MERT Chinook came in to land nearby. Its two Apache escorts circled like vultures overhead. After 15 minutes the doctors decided Bailey was as stable as he was going to get for the flight back to Bastion. The two Apaches hunting down the enemy had spotted the group of Taliban in the ambush - eight men escaping across the river in boats, trying to get back north to the safety of their stronghold in Musa Qalah. Cannon and missile fire wiped them out from above.
Moments later, Aston arrived. "I'll be brief, boys, then go and get yourselves some scoff. What we had out there, that was a well-planned ambush. But the idea of an ambush is you destroy all the enemy in it, or at least you cause them real damage," he said. "We're all hoping Bailey will pull through and the other casualties will be OK too." He added: "I'm incredibly proud of you all."’

Bailey’s injuries were severe - his ear was ripped off, he sustained serious wounds to his head, shoulders, and hands, and was permanently deafened. He is slowly recovering.

For his gallantry in saving Bailey’s life, his fellow sniper Oliver ‘Teddy’ Ruecker was awarded the Military Cross (London Gazette 7 March 2008). Speaking after the event, he recalled: "I knew if I got into another vehicle and drove off I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I didn't know if he was in there so I had to make sure. I was scared. I didn't want to go back but I knew I had to. I don't know how I got close. There were flames, and rounds going off. It was a scene of pure destruction. I don't see myself as a hero. I was just saving my mate - doing him a favour - nothing special in my eyes. It is something which soldiers have between them - friendship and love that we have between us that makes men do that sort of thing for his mate. Every guy who was there had to stand up and be a man. Everyone shared death and destruction on a daily basis."

Sold together with the recipient’s evening Mess Dress, with miniature award for Iraq and sniper’s cloth badge; Army No. 2 Dress Uniform, with riband bar for the Iraq Medal; Regimental Belt and Tie; Beret, with Royal Anglians cap badge; and a water-colour painting showing by Paul Bishop showing the recipient, severely wounded, being rescued by Lance Corporal Reucker.