An Important Collection of Awards to the SAS and Special Forces

A superb B.E.M. group of fourteen awarded to Regimental Sergeant Major P. P. J. Minvalla, Sultan of Oman’s Armoured Car Regiment, late 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards and 22nd Special Air Service Regiment

British Empire Medal, E.II.R. (Military) for Meritorious Service (19048192 Sgt. Peter P. J. Minvalla, 5 Innis. D.G. R.A.C.); Korea 1950-53 (19048192 Tpr., 5 D.G.) official correction to rank; U.N. Korea; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, E.II.R. (19048192 Tpr., R.A.C.); General Service 1962, 1 clasp, South Arabia (19048192Sgt., B.E.M. 5 Innis. D.G.); U.N. Cyprus; Regular Army L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., 2nd issue (19048192 Sgt., 5 Innis. D.G.); Sultanate of Oman, Commendation Medal; Dhofar Campaign Medal; As Sumood Medal; Peace Medal, with active service emblem; Sultan’s 10 Year Medal; Sultan’s 15 Year Medal; Long Service Medal, the group mounted court style for wearing, generally good very fine or better (14)

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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Peter Phereyeshaw John Minvalla was born in December 1929 and enlisted in the Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, Royal Armoured Corps, on 15 July 1947. He served in the British Army for 23 years including active service with his Regiment in Korea, two and a half years in Malaya with 22 S.A.S., and in South Arabia where he was awarded the B.E.M. His Certificate of Service carries the note: ‘He has also proved himself to be a man of courage on active operations and was awarded the B.E.M. for services as a troop sergeant in South Arabia’. Qualified as a parachutist, including helicopter and tree descents, Manvilla resigned in 1971 with the rank of S.Q.M.S., to join the Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces on contract. He was S.Q.M.S. of the Sultan’s Armoured Car Squadron when this was formed in July 1971, and eventually became the Senior Warrant Officer in Oman. He was awarded the Sultan’s Commendation Medal at the end of the Dhofar War in 1975, and retired in 1985, having reached the mandatory retirement age.

The group is sold with three large photo album’s containing a comprehensive archive of documents and photographs covering his career from the Boy’s Brigade in 1944 to the end of his army life with the Armoured Car Squadron in Oman. Included are his original SAS cloth beret badge and parachute wings, several cloth unit badges, 22 SAS Permanent Pass, a group photograph of “B” Squadron 22 SAS, and many photographs taken with 5 D.G. in Korea and with the SAS in Malaya.