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Auction: 26002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 145

Sold by Order of the Family

'With that, the General [Carlos Büsser] went along the line and saluted each of my men, shook their hands and said, 'If Argentine marines were the same as British marines, we would conquer the world. If there is anything you want, let me know and you will have it.' We made a short list that ended 'Twenty-two one-way tickets to London and twenty-two women.' Büsser said: 'You can have everything on the list except the women and the one-way tickets home you will have to wait for.' Yet the next day we flew out of Argentina.'

Lieutenant Keith Mills, D.S.C., who commanded Naval Party 8901 at the defence of South Georgia on 3 April 1982; Heroes of the Falklands War, by Michael Ashcroft, refers.

The outstanding defence of South Georgia pair awarded to Marine A. D. 'Jesse' James, Royal Marines and Naval Party 8901, who had a reputation for being 'fairly quiet and withdrawn', but who in fact held 'strong views on most issues' and was 'very prepared to express them!'

And so it proved as the Argentines came ashore at South Georgia on 3 April 1982, when - in one of the most famous episodes of the Falklands War - the likes of James helped to down a brace of helicopters and inflict major damage on the corvette Guerrico: in fact, as one of just 21 men under the redoubtable leadership of Lieutenant Keith Mills, he and his comrades faced off a far superior enemy force for over two hours

In common with his fellow marines, James was taken P.O.W. and then flown home from Montevideo to a hero's welcome, where Margaret Thatcher and the nation rejoiced in the first positive news of British fighting prowess to emerge from the conflict

James, however, took it all in his stride, telling a correspondent 'I don't really consider myself a hero at all. I came home and asked my mum what all the fuss was about'

General Service 1962-2007, 1 clasp, Northern Ireland (Mne A D James PO 38468R RM); South Atlantic 1982, with rosette (Mne 1 A D James PO 38468R RM), mounted as worn, nearly extremely fine (2)

Anthony David James was born on 12 March 1960 and was educated at Hugh Christie School, Tonbridge. Having enlisted in the Royal Marines in November 1978, he qualified as a Section Commander at the R.M. Training School in July 1979 and was serving as a member of Naval Party 8901 in the South Atlantic at the time of the onset of the Argentine invasion.

Deployed to South Georgia from H.M.S. Endurance in March 1982, the 22-strong party was commanded by Lieutenant Keith Mills and brought ashore some 20,000 rounds of ammunition, prior to rigging up explosives on the main jetty at King Edward Point and digging defensive trenches at the foot of the mountains. James shared just such a trench with a machine-gun section. Nor did they have long to wait, for on the morning of 3 April 1982, the Argentine corvette Guerrico and an Alouette helicopter hove into view. What followed is the stuff of legend.

A little earlier, Mills - frustrated by last minute conflicting orders from his seniors - is said to have made a forthright response to the suggestion he should surrender without a proper fight: "F--k that. I'm going to make their eyes water."

More certain is the fact he had indeed decided to give the invading Argentine forces a bloody nose and then, if possible, beat a retreat into the mountains. Thus, a last-minute order requesting he stand down without a fight fell on deaf ears. Besides, his men were well-up for the coming firefight. And by way of evidence, they downed a Puma helicopter and damaged an Alouette helicopter before the action had hardly got underway.

And when the corvette Guerrico carelessly closed the range to 500 metres - with her 40mm. guns and a 100mm. gun on her bow - James and his comrades responded in kind, albeit under heavy fire; one newspaper report describes how incoming rounds missed his head by inches. Mills takes up the story:

'The ship then moved right out into the bay, about turned, and headed out to sea again at full speed. We engaged the corvette for a second time scoring anti-tank rocket hits on the Exocet and to the main upper deck superstructure. Again she was engaged by heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. I was later informed by an Argentine marine officer that we had scored a total of 1,275 hits on the corvette and had we hit her again below the water line she surely would have sunk.'

At length, in what seemed to be a natural lull in the contest - and confident that he and his men had done all within their power - Keith Mills gallantly stuck his head over the parapet and waved a white-lined jacket as a signal to commence negotiations for a ceasefire. He then informed the Argentines that their position remained perilous and that if they did not offer his men safe passage, they would return to the fray and cause extensive loss of life. As it stood, the Argentines are believed to have suffered around 20 casualties in killed or wounded, whilst just one Royal Marine was wounded. Mercifully, for all concerned, a peaceful conclusion to the action was reached, although the Argentines, convinced that they had engaged a force far greater than just 22 men, remained jittery. It was a worrying moment, as related by James in a newspaper interview:

'As they were lined up in three ranks, Anthony [James] thought they were going to be executed. The Argentine troops had three machine-guns trained on the marines and the Britons could hear the guns being cocked by their jittery operators … before being shipped out of the island the marines were stripped of everything except their battledress.'

With them came 13 scientists of the British Antarctica Survey, who had been stationed at Grytviken.
After several days at sea, and a short stay ashore - where they were congratulated by the Argentine General Carlos Büsser - James and his comrades were flown out of Montevideo to a hero's welcome at R.A.F. Brize Norton on 14 April 1982.

He subsequently served in 42 Commando R.M., in which he received a spate of glowing testimonials, and ended his career in the summer of 1987 as a member of the Provost Staff at R.M. Deal, He also served in Northern Ireland.

James died in Sao Paulo, Brazil in December 2014. At a memorial service held back in Ashburton, Devon, attended by veterans of Naval Party 8901, his family played a recording of 'Brothers in Arms' by Dire Straits.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation and photographs, comprising:

(i)
The recipient's R.M. Company Record Books (2), covering the periods September 1982 to December 1984 and December 1984 to July 1987, the former with opening endorsement, 'Replacement - original lost in Falklands NP 8901 May 1982'.

(ii)
R.M. Commando Training Centre certificate for appointment as a Section Commander in 125 Troop, in the name of 'Mne. A. D. James, PO38468R' and dated 27 June 1979, and related King's Squad R.M. pamphlet, June 1979.

(iii)
H.Q. Training and Reserve Forces R.M. letter to the recipient's mother, dated 30 March 1982, informing her that her son's anticipated return to the U.K. had been delayed, and a copy of his resultant 'familygram' response ('In South Georgia now. Fed up. Not sure when I'll be home. I'm on Endurance. See you soon I hope').

(iv)
Several photographs and two or three newspaper cuttings.



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Estimate
£4,000 to £6,000

Starting price
£3000