Secret gallantry medals of British commando to be sold for £80,000
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The secret gallantry medals of a British commando who took part in one of the most audacious raids of the Second World War are being sold for £80,000.
Maj Ronald “Taffy” Morris was one of 14 men who dressed in sarongs and covered themselves in brown dye to look like Malay fishermen during the raid on Japanese-occupied Singapore Harbour.
They used a stolen Japanese fishing vessel to enter the harbour undetected and were able to attach limpet mines on time-delayed charges on enemy navy ships.
The following day, the explosives went off, resulting in seven ships being sunk.
The clandestine 1943 operation was one of the greatest special operations executive (SOE) commando raids of the war.
Operation Jaywick involved 12 Australian commandos and two British men, including Maj Morris, an ex-miner from Wales.
He received the military medal for the raid but this had to be given in secret due to the nature of the raid.
Maj Morris died in 1999. His son, Evan, has recently written a book about his father’s exploits, called the Tiger’s Revenge.
He has decided to put his father’s medals up for auction at Noonans Mayfair, a london-based auction house. They have a pre-sale estimate of between £60,000 to £80,000.
Mr Morris said: “My father’s life was shaped by his war experiences as he had achieved the almost impossible by joining the army prior to the war as a private soldier and rising up through the ranks to become a major.
“Something quite incredible for an ex-miner from the Rhondda.
“However, in the following years and throughout his career he never forgot the loss of his wartime colleagues, especially Ivan Lyon. From Miner to Major – a fitting epitaph.”
Christopher Mellor-Hill, from Noonans Mayfair, said: “Very few people are aware of Operation Jaywick which was one of the greatest SOE ‘Clandestine’ Commando raids of WW2 in the Far East.
“It was a great success but always kept secret along with Morris’s gallantry award but hopefully his full story and that of Operation Jaywick as told by his son in his new book the Tiger’s Revenge will ensure that their amazingly dangerous and brave but successful commando raid is now more widely appreciated.”
Operation Jaywick was planned by a task force called Z Special Unit, a joint allied unit that conducted reconnaissance and sabotage missions behind enemy lines.
It was led by Capt Ivan Lyon, who recruited and trained the men involved.
The motorised wooden-hulled Japanese boat was renamed the MV Krait, after a small but deadly Asian snake.
The men left Exmouth, Western Australia, on Sept 2 1943 for Singapore.
They arrived deep behind enemy lines Sept 24.
They had no uniform or identity tags and were sailing under the Japanese flag. The men would have been killed if they had been caught.
Under the cover of darkness, they got into collapsible canoes and paddled towards the Japanese ships.
The raid resulted in the sinking and destruction of seven enemy ships totalling 37,000 tons.
All 14 crew made it safely back to Australia, but not before a close encounter with a Japanese warship that sailed alongside their boat for 20 minutes in Indonesian waters.
Although most of the ships were repaired and put back into service, the psychological effect on the Japanese was far greater.
The harbour was considered a secure stronghold, well out of allied reach, and the Japanese never discovered how the raid had been undertaken.
Morris, an acting sergeant for the operation, was honoured with a “secret” military medal for his gallantry and distinguished service as a medical orderly.
It was approved by the King in May 1944 but kept on the Secret List, with the instruction not to be published in the London Gazette.
Maj Morris joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in May 1938, when he was 19.
After Japan entered the war, he was recruited to join the SOE’s Orient mission.
He arrived in Singapore in April 1941 and met fellow SOE operative Capt Ivan Lyon. They became part of an unorthodox group undertaking covert missions and training local groups in the art of sabotage.
The medal group will be sold in London on Jan 17.
