NOONANS TO SELL THE MEDALS OF BLACK WATCH SOLDIER WHO WAS MURDERED IN CONCENTRATION CAMP AFTER BEING ATTACHED TO THE S.O.E IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND ATTEMPTING TO BLOCK THE CORINTH CANAL

The Military Medal awarded to Company Sergeant-Major James Cook ‘Jumbo’ Steele of the Black Watch, who was attached to the Special Operations Executive’s ‘Ministry of Economic Warfare’ in the Middle East, and subsequently murdered in Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1945 at the age of 26, is to be offered in an auction of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria at Noonans Mayfair (16 Bolton Street) on Wednesday, February 11, 2026. It is being sold, along with four other medals, by a private collector and is expected to fetch £30,000-40,000.

As Christopher Mellor-Hill, Head of Client Liaison at Noonans explains: “A hardy Rhodesian, he had served under S.O.E.’s swashbuckling, gold ear-ringed and ‘truly Elizabethan’ Lieutenant-Commander Mike Cumberlege, D.S.O., and participated in some notable clandestine operations to Crete and Greece: on one occasion Jumbo had his hair parted by a bullet from a Messerschmitt 110, which attacked his caique and killed two of his comrades. He was later selected for Operation ‘Locksmith’ in March 1943 – an attempt to mine and block the Corinth Canal – he, Cumberlege and two comrades were captured and taken to the Averoff prison in Athens, and thence – via Gestapo H.Q. in Vienna - to Mauthausen concentration camp, a protracted journey in which they endured torture and terrible suffering. Finally, in early 1945, after a year of being subjected to the horrors of the notorious Zellenbau block in Sachsenhausen, they were murdered by a shot to the back of the neck.”

The original recommendation stated: ‘This non-commissioned officer (N.C.O) has been in ships since before the fall of Crete. During the Greek evacuation he served in the Dolphin with Lieutenant Cumberlege and assisted in the evacuation. Together with Cumberlege he assisted in the embarkation of about 400 British troops. During the Cretan evacuation, he assisted in the embarkation of troops, helped to blow up the ammunition store on Suda island and brought away the Ag Miaoulis after the Dolphin was abandoned and blown up. During the voyage across he shot down a Messerschmidt 110 which attacked the ship, during which engagement the Ag Miaoulis had two killed out of a crew of five. Since then, he has taken part in every expedition to Crete, having stayed two weeks on the island with Lieutenant Cumberlege and organising the embarkation of British and Greek stragglers. This N.C.O. has at all times shown the greatest courage and determination and is thoroughly worthy of a decoration. It is requested that, should the award be made, there should be no publicity for security reasons.’

Steele is commemorated on the Athens memorial, in addition to a special memorial stone on the site of Sachsenhausen concentration camp and, back in modern day Zimbabwe, at Marondera, formerly Marandellas.