Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Lance-Corporal N. R. Eyre, 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards who was wounded in action during the Scots Guards epic action at Mount Tumbledown on the night of 13/14 June 1982, during which he ‘was hit by sniper fire near the top of Tumbledown... With wounds to his head, back and arm he lay beneath a rock in snow and hail for about an hour before being ordered to move back.’ He was wounded again by mortar fire before gaining medical attention

General Service 1962-2007, 1 clasp, Northern Ireland (24425327 L Cpl N R Eyre SG); South Atlantic 1982, with rosette (24425327 L Cpl N R Eyre SG) mounted as worn, minor edge bruising nearly very fine (2) £1,800-£2,200

Nigel Eyre ‘still carries with him his souvenir of the Falklands campaign - tiny fragments of Argentine shrapnel embedded in his head, back and arms since the battle of Tumbledown.

But like most of the 777 wounded in the South Atlantic he will not be at Tuesday’s victory parade through the City of London. He will be back on duty doing what he knows best: soldiering.

Of the 446 wounded Servicemen who required “significant hospital treatment” only 46 are still in hospital, says the Ministry of Defence.

Most of the others are back with their units. At Chelsea Barracks yesterday, there was nothing to set Cpl. Eyre and other men who had been wounded apart from the rest of the 2nd Bn Scots Guards as they carried out their company training programme.

The speed with which many badly wounded have recovered has amazed officers. “I wonder how some of these men have survived at all. Some had terrible wounds yet only a couple are still in hospital,” said Major Campbell Gordon, the second in command of the battalion.... Cpl. Eyre, 27 of Burton-on-Trent, was hit by sniper fire near the top of Tumbledown during the crucial battle the night before the Argentine surrender.

With wounds to his head, back and arm he lay beneath a rock in snow and hail for about an hour before being ordered to move back.

“On the way back a mortar went off a few feet away. The shrapnel hit me in the mouth,” he said. Most of the shrapnel was removed during an operation on the hospital ship The Uganda. After being flown home from Montevideo, more treatment was carried out at the Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital, Woolwich. After 10 weeks Cpl. Eyre was fit and on duty again.....’ (copy of newspaper article, in which recipient is pictured with C.S.M. W. ‘Bill’ Nicol, D.C.M., refers)

The 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards lost eight dead and 43 wounded during the Battle for Mount Tumbledown and in consequence of gallantry shown that day its men were rewarded with one Distinguished Service Order, two Military Crosses, two Distinguished Conduct Medals (including one posthumous) and two Military Medals.

Sold with a photographic image including recipient in uniform as part of ‘F’ Company, 2nd Battalion Scots Guards, at Chelsea Barracks, September 1983.