Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Corporal J. M. Godfrey, 2nd Parachute Regiment, who was a witness to the infamous ‘White Flag’ incident during the battle of Goose Green

General Service 1962-2007, 1 clasp, Northern Ireland (24410650 Pte J M Godfrey Para); South Atlantic 1982, with rosette (24410650 Pte J M Godfrey Para) court mounted as worn, nearly extremely fine (2) £1,800-£2,200

Jeremy Mark Godfrey was born on 12 August 1958, and enlisted into the Parachute Regiment at Bristol on 2 October 1979. During his nine and a half years service he served in Northern Ireland from July 1980 to March 1981 and November 1984 to March 1985; in Denmark, 12-26 September 1981; Kenya, November to December 1981, and January to February 1987; Operation Corporate, 26 April to 1 July 1982; Belize, April to October 1983; U.S.A., February to March 1984; and the Sultanate of Oman, November to December 1986. He was discharged in the rank of Corporal on 9 June 1989. Sold with copied Certificate of Service and Certificate of Discharge.

The ‘White Flag’ incident
At the battle of Goose Green, Godfrey was 12 Platoon’s runner in “D” Company, 2 Para, commanded by Lieutenant James A. ‘Jim’ Barry, who was killed in most unfortunate, confused circumstances as follows:

‘During the battle for the Schoolhouse, Lieutenant Barry saw what he thought to be a white flag in the area of the flagpole. He told his platoon sergeant, Sergeant Meredith, that he was going up to take a surrender, and Company HQ was informed. Neame was worried about this and forbade any such move until the Schoolhouse had been sorted out, but his instruction never reached Barry. Sergeant Meredith shouted for his platoon radio operator, Private Knight, to go up with the platoon commander, and Private Godfrey, the platoon runner, was already with Barry.’ Godfrey’s account of the incident is informative:

‘There was a group of three or four Argies with a white cloth wanting to surrender. They definitely wanted to pack it in, I’ve no doubt about about this group. They were less than 100 metres from us, but the ground was open like a football field. They were up this slope by a fence with a gap in it. Mr Barry and his radio operator, Geordie Knight, were in the lead with myself a short distance behind, then came Corporal Sullivan’s section in support. When we got to the top I saw there were more Argies in trenches nearby. The first group still seemed to want to give up, but I was worried about the others as they were not leaving their trenches.

Mr Barry went right up to the fence, only a few feet from the Argies. I was about 20 feet behind him. He started to demonstrate to the Argies that they were to surrender by putting down their weapons. He went through the motions of putting down his own. I reckon we were there only a matter of seconds, less than a minute, when this long burst of SF [sustained fire, meaning machine gun fire] came cracking overhead from behind. Suddenly there were bullets everywhere. All the Argies opened up. Mr Barry was hit at point-blank range by the Argies in front of him.

I fell flat. There was fire from everywhere, I could see rounds striking the ground all round; a lot was coming from the trenches. I was in a bit of a state as the strap of my medical bag was wrapped round my neck. My rifle barrel was stuck in the dirt. A bullet went through my sling and another through the heel of my boot. After a bit I sort of sprinted sideways and dived into a rut made by tractor tyres. It was only a foot deep. Corporal Sullivan’s section was firing. Knight was trying to get through on the radio and Brummie Mountford was firing his GPMG. The next thing I knew was Sergeant Meredith coming up with another machine gun. After that we seemed to get the better of the Argies and worked our way back up to where Mr Barry had been hit. Sergeant Meredith did a great job.’

In another incident about two weeks later during the battle of Wireless Ridge: ‘As the company moved forward, the tanks of the Blues and Royals and the machine-guns provided fire support while the artillery increased its rate of fire. In the rear of the company, Private Godfrey of 12 Platoon had a near miss as a piece of shrapnel cut through his windproof and dug into his boot. He dived for cover - straight into an Argentine latrine!’