The rare Northern Ireland M.B.E., M.C. group of five awarded to Major J. A. Ball, Commanding The Sultan of Oman’s Special Force, late King’s Own Scottish Borderers, the Parachute Regiment and Special Air Service Regiment

The Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) M.B.E., the reverse of the crown suspension inscribed ‘J.A.B.’; Military Cross, E.II.R., the reverse officially dated ‘1973’ and additionally inscribed ‘Capt. J. A. Ball (489891) KOSB’; General Service 1962, 3 clasps, Borneo, South Arabia, Northern Ireland, with M.I.D. oak leaf emblem (23854005 Tpr. J. A. Ball, SAS); U.N. Cyprus, named on the reverse; Oman Peace Medal, with active service emblem, the first four mounted as worn, very fine or better (5)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, An Important Collection of Awards to the SAS and Special Forces.

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M.B.E. London Gazette 15 April 1980. ‘In recognition of distinguished service in Northern Ireland during the period 1 August 1979 to 31 October 1979’.

M.C. London Gazette 20 February 1973. ‘In recognition of distinguished service in Northern Ireland during the period 1 May 1972 to 31 July 1972’.

M.I.D. London Gazette 30 September 1975. ‘In recognition of distinguished service in Northern Ireland during the period 1 February 1975 to 30 April 1975’.

Julian Anthony ‘Tony’ Ball served as a Trooper in the SAS in Borneo and subsequently for one tour of Northern Ireland. He was commissioned as Subaltern into the King’s Own Scottish Borderers in 1970 and won the Military Cross with them in Northern Ireland, while serving with the Reconnaissance Platoon. According to various cuttings sold with the lot, the M.C. was awarded in respect of a series of incidents with gunmen on the streets of Belfast. He was selected to serve with 14 Intelligence Company in 1974, and, now a Captain, commanded 3 Brigade Detachment of that Company in Northern Ireland, with Lieutenant Robert Nairac (later awarded the posthumous George Cross) as his second in command. His work as commander of the small undercover SAS team stationed at Castledillon is both controversial and shrouded in mystery. Several recent publications and television programmes have exposed details of various ‘dirty tricks’ operations allegedly carried out by Ball and Nairac, not least the assassination of a prominent IRA commander in January 1975. An official Mention in Despatches was later followed by the award of the M.B.E., both for services in Northern Ireland, but Tony Ball resigned his commission in the British Army in 1980 to take up an appointment as Commanding Officer of the Sultan of Oman’s Special Force. He was tragically killed shortly after arriving in Oman, on 2 May 1981, when his Range Rover overturned en-route to Thumrait, an Air Force Base in Dhofar.

A fellow officer wrote the following about Tony Ball:

‘These words are obviously one man’s opinion of a fellow officer and soldier. Tony was a slim, thin faced individual who had an excess of nervous energy. He constantly smoked Capstan Plain cigarettes and this was almost his trademark. He was awarded his M.C. with, I think, the KOSB while working in Ulster as a Battalion officer. I first met Tony when I joined 22 SAS and he was on the staff of the Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) Wing. We worked together training personnel for the Army Surveillance Organisation which operated under cover in Ulster. He had an affinity with this sort of work. When Harold Wilson directed 22 SAS to send personnel to Ulster in 1976, Tony commanded the first small element. This was a particularly trying time for the SAS because of the animosity from the Regular Army, who saw Ulster as their domain, and the lack of support from people within the SAS Group itself, elements of which were petrified that we would start shooting everything and everybody. During this first tour, Tony lived in a small room in Bess Brook Mill (The Submarine) with another officer who will tell of being kept awake by Tony’s regular nightmares. The success of this small group first deployed by 22 SAS was directly attributable to Tony Ball’s direct and aggressive leadership. He was not afraid of authority and would frequently bend the rules if he thought it necessary.

Tony returned to Ulster later to work in the headquarters at Lisburn where he was responsible for co-ordinating the operations of the numerous police, military and government surveillance organisations working there. As you can imagine, there was a great deal of information coming in about terrorist organisations and this had to be converted into intelligence so that “executive” elements could be suitably targeted. The recent SAS success against the IRA in Loughall was an example of this type of co-ordination. Tony did not feel he had a future in the British Army, he always felt that his NCO background was held against him, and so he left and joined the Sultan’s Special Forces. He had just started making his mark there when he met his death. He was driving Andrew Nightingale, the stand-in CO, to the airport and they took a bend too fast or had a puncture and the Range Rover rolled killing them both. I do not think Tony was totally happy within himself and this was conveyed in his hyperactive, almost nervous, dispositions, nevertheless he was a good man to work with and could always be relied upon in a tight situation. A man to go to war with!’

The lot is sold with his KOSB beret and Glengarry cap (lacking badge), a number of photographs, copy news cuttings, and a letter from the 2IC Sultan’s Special Force who served with Ball in the SAS.