Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The important and impressive ‘Iraq’ G.M. group of six awarded to Colour Sergeant M. P. Caines, Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, who as Platoon Leader, employed both clear-headed discernment and cold courage in resolving a dangerous and escalating incident involving his men and Iraqi soldiers at Maysaan, Iraq, on 7 July 2006, and in so doing prevented a fire-fight, the implications of which would have been disastrous, both militarily and politically.

Following a joint stop and search patrol carried out by Caines’ platoon and a much larger contingent of Iraqi soldiers, re-supply failures by the Iraqi Army resulted in food and water shortages among the Iraqis, causing resentment towards the well supplied British, who had offered to share their own resources, however inadequate. Frustration turned to anger and shots were fired in the direction of the British who were ordered by Caines to take cover and not return fire. As fifteen Iraqi soldiers then fired rounds provocatively towards Caines’ section, an Iraqi Army ring-leader produced a sniper rifle and started shooting directly at the front of the British position. A full confrontation seemed inevitable.

Realising the breadth and enormity of the consequences of shooting the ringleader and precipitating a firefight, Caines stood up from behind cover and, keeping his weapon lowered, stared at the Iraqis, challenging them to fire again. All firing ceased and there was a stand off as the ringleader kept his sniper rifle level and aimed at Caines. Finally the Iraqi assailant faltered, threw down his weapon and walked away, and as a consequence the atmosphere changed and co-operation was re-established.

Caines had earlier served on 1/PWRR’s action-packed 2004 Iraq tour which resulted in a large number of gallantry awards for the battalion, including Johnson Beharry’s V.C., and during which, while undertaking Operation Waterloo, Caines’ vehicle was immobilised having been struck by RPG, grenades, blast bombs and small arms fire - a contact for which his commander was mentioned in despatches.

Caines’ George Medal is one of just five awarded for the Iraq War

George Medal, E.II.R., 2nd issue (25067847 Cpl. M. P. Caines. PWRR) ; N.A.T.O. Medal 1994, 1 clasp, Kosovo; Iraq 2003-11, no clasp (25067847 LCpl M P Caines PWRR); Operational Service Medal 2000, for Afghanistan, 1 clasp, Afghanistan (Sgt. M P Caines GM PWRR 25067847); Jubilee 2012; Army L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., 2nd issue, Regular Army (CSgt M P Caines GM PWRR 25067847) together with Royal Mint case of issue for G.M., extremely fine (6) £20,000-£30,000

G.M. London Gazette 15 December 2006:
‘For gallant and distinguished services in Iraq.’

The official recommendation states: ‘On 7 July 2006 a selfless act of gallantry by Corporal Caines prevented a major incident, the strategic effect of which could have been catastrophic for the Security Sector Reform process in Southern Iraq. He was part of a combined stop and search operation with the Iraqi Army, in the remote desert region of Maysan. A re-supply failure by the Iraqi Army led to a water shortage, and the Iraqi soldiers became increasingly irate and frustrated. Regrettably, their officers soon abandoned them, leaving a heavily outnumbered British presence on the ground. Attempts to placate the soldiers with what little water the soldiers carried were met with outright anger. Weapons were cocked and pointed by the Iraqis and shots were fired. Cpl Caines ordered his men to take cover, but not to return fire. Encouraged by this non-aggressive response the number of Iraqis firing increased to 15. Cpl Caines continued to reassure his men and, despite the hail of bullets, instructed them not to fire on the Iraqis; his control and discipline shown over a period of 20 minutes was exceptional. Cpl Caines then observed the Iraqi ring leader pull a Dragunov sniper rifle from his vehicle and fire two shots. These rounds hit the berm immediately to the front of the section position. At this gesture the other Iraqis upped the rate of fire, and a full contact seemed unavoidable.
At this moment Caines leapt to his feet. He kept his weapon by his side, stood tall and glared at the Iraqis. His initiative stopped the firing outright, and to a man the Iraqis turned to their ring leader for direction. He kept the sniper rifle level and aimed at Caines, Caines never moved or wavered and after 20 seconds, in the face of such resolve, bravery and self-discipline, the Iraqi finally threw down his weapon and walked away, kicking the dust. The atmosphere changed in an instant, and the fight left the Iraqis. In the vacuum, the Iraqis were approached, talked to and as a consequence co-operation was re-established.
Faced with the prospect of a politically, and militarily disastrous fire-fight Caines acted selflessly, placing his own life at direct risk in order to regain the initiative and resolve the crisis.’

Martin Paul Caines was born in 1979 in Surrey, England and was raised in Northern Ireland and England. He was a member of the Army Cadets and joined the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment in 1997. Having completed two tours in Kosovo he was embarked for Iraq on operation Telic 4 in July 2004.

Iraq 2004 - Operation Telic 4
This legendary tour saw Caines’ 1st Battalion awarded one Victoria Cross, two Conspicuous Gallantry Crosses, two Distinguished Service Orders, seven Military Crosses. one Member of the British Empire, sixteen Mentioned in Despatches and one Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service. In summarising their achievements, the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel (now Brigadier) Matt Maer stated ‘It has been said that 1 PWRR Battle Group faced the most constant period of conflict of any British Army unit since the Korean War ... The Battle Group in Maysan Province faced over 100 contacts in one day alone and close to 900 over the tour ... Every single man who deployed on Operation TELIC had been in some form of contact. That in itself made a tour like no other’.

For his part, Caines described Telic 4 as providing his first real insight to combat. Based at the city of Al-Amarah, the regiment had a checkpoint at CIMIC house in the city itself and a main camp on the outskirts. As CIMIC House was under constant attack from RPGs, mortar rounds and small arms fire, the decision was made to take back the city and Operation Waterloo was put in to effect on 8 May 2004. As Caines hit the city from the west in the lead vehicle, his vehicle was struck by an RPG and immobilised. Throughout this contact, for which his C.O. was mentioned in despatches, the vehicle was repeatedly hit by blast bombs, RPG, grenades and small arms fire until eventually recovered by the REME some seven hours later. Pressing on, his team later identified a target armed with RPG. His 7.62mm having been rendered inoperable, this target was engaged and destroyed by 2 rounds of HE30 mil, the first confirmed kill with a 30 mil by any vehicle on the tour.

Iraq 2006 - Operation Telic 8
Operation Telic 8, although not as dangerous as Telic 4, had the important goal of training the Iraqi Army, a task which was accomplished to a high level. On one combined operation however, an unexpected supply chain issue caused a dangerous scenario to unfold requiring Corporal Caines’ to exhibit cold courage together with a grasp of the high-level implications of the situation. His actions resulted in the award of the George Medal. The following authoritative account of this unique incident is taken from the regiment’s website, armytigers.com:
‘On 7 July 2006 Corporal Caines had returned from a combined stop and search operation in the remote desert region of Maysaan to a forward operating base shared with a unit from the Iraqi Army. His platoon and its company headquarters were the only multinational forces in the area for some 80 kilometres and were totally outnumbered by their Iraqi colleagues. The Iraqi Army unit had not had food or water for 36 hours and were, not unreasonably, becoming anxious that they should receive a re-supply. While Corporal Caines' platoon had been deployed with his Iraqi colleagues on the stop and search operation, Iraqi officers had, unbeknown to the remainder of the personnel, left the forward operating base supposedly to try to arrange a re-supply. On return from the operation, the young Iraqi soldiers became frustrated by the apparent frailty of the Iraqi system versus the comparative order and ease with which multinational forces had managed to sustain themselves and the apparent duplicity of their officers who had not returned.

Tensions were raised as hours went by without sight or sound of their officers. A group of between 10-15 armed Iraqi soldiers then approached multinational forces. Clearly animated, they remonstrated with Corporal Caines' platoon commander, who was then ordered to back off when a number of Iraqi soldiers cocked their weapons. The immediate incident having been defused successfully, a ringleader appeared who was determined to engineer some kind of incident. He returned and opened fire into the ground with single shots and then with bursts of fire over the heads of the British soldiers. A deliberate decision was made not to escalate the situation. The 'contact' lasted for about 20 minutes with multiple automatic single shots being directed in the vicinity of the British soldiers. The situation reached a culminating point when, out of sight of the British company headquarters, the Iraqi Army ringleader having acquired a sniper rifle was now firing around British soldiers and deliberately aiming to miss.

Corporal Caines, who was about 400m from company headquarters, immediately saw that this was now more serious and that a decision to shoot the ringleader may be required. Two rounds were fired at his platoon leaguer. At this point, Corporal Caines gave direction to his soldiers having understood the breadth and enormity of the consequences of killing the ringleader and acted to bring the situation under control. He also recognised that British forces were outgunned by the Iraqi Army unit, and that opening fire would probably force the Iraqi Army into a fight they did not want. Corporal Caines stood up from behind cover, 50 metres from the gunman, and keeping his weapon lowered, glared at the gunman challenging him to fire again. There was a brief stand off and then complete capitulation by the Iraqi assailant, who knowing he was beaten, threw down his weapon and returned indignantly to his side of the forward operating base.

For this outstanding act of bravery Corporal Caines was awarded the George Medal’

Caines’ last tour in Iraq was Telic 13 - overseeing the withdrawal of British soldiers from Iraq in 2008 - 2009. He then served on two Afghanistan tours. On Herrick 15, 2011-12, he was presented with the Brigade Commander’s Coin (with lot) for his actions as Platoon Sergeant in command of a check point in the south on the River Helmand in the Green Zone. On his second Afghanistan tour he was part of Optac, whose main role was to train British soldiers deploying into Afghanistan - four months on the ground teaching new ways to operate. During the course of his career, Caines was presented with both the Kohima Corporal and Sobraon Sergeant awards - the first soldier in his battalion to receive both awards. (Both statuettes with lot). He retired from the army having served the Queen for 24 years.

Sold with the following archive:
i) Sobraon Sergeant award. Bronze statuette of a sergeant of the Queen’s Royal Surrey Regiment, holding regimental colour and brandishing a rifle in defiant stance. Wooden plinth inscribed, ‘Presented to Sgt M Caines GM. Sobraon Sergeant 2011. On the 165th Anniversary of the Battle of Sobraon.’ Small chip otherwise very good condition. Height including plinth, 43.5cm.

ii) Kohima Corporal award. Bronze statuette of Lance Corporal Harman V.C. Wooden plinth inscribed, ‘Cpl MP Caines GM. Kohima Cpl. 2007.’ Very good condition. Height including plinth 27cm.

iii) Brigade Commander’s Coin presented by Commander Task Force Helmand, the edge inscribed, ‘Operation Herrick 15. October 2011- April 2012.’

iv) The recipient’s George Medal citation mounted in glazed wooden frame. 32cm x 39cm. Glass cracked.

v) Set of Recipient’s fatigues with PWRR and British Army insignia patches together with company T-shirt, with Afghanistan logo and the words ‘B Coy 1 PWRR, Afghanistan.’

vi) Photograph album presented to Sgt. M. Caines GM from the men of of 4 Pl. B Coy 1 PWRR, 28 June 2012. Signed by platoon members. Containing a large quantity of images of 4 Platoon ‘The Tigers’ on active service on Herrick 15, Afghanistan 2011/12. Album in book form. No loose photographs.

vii) An album of letters of congratulation with regard to the recipient’s GM award. Includes letters from many high ranking officers e.g. Major General J Cooper DSO MBE; Major General G J Binns CBE DSO MC; Major General P R Newton CBE; Brigadier Scott-Bowden MBE ADC; Brigadier J R Everard CBE; Lieut General J C McColl CBE DSO; Major General ARD Shirreff CBE.

viii) A quantity of correspondence relating to the investiture held by the Queen at Buckingham palace, 28 February 2007.

ix) Further ephemera.

For the recipient’s related miniature awards, see Lot 304.

Withdrawn