PREVIEW: ORDERS, DECORATIONS, MEDALS AND MILITARIA 19 APRIL

In what must rank as the most perilous roadside recovery operation ever attempted, Adam Miller won the highest gallantry award ever presented to a member of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, a Conspicuous Gallantry Cross – as a gallantry award, second only to the Victoria Cross in the face of the enemy.

Now retired from service, Warrant Officer Class II Miller has decided to put his CGC up for auction at Noonans on 19 April with an estimate of £100,000-140,000.

Miller (then a Corporal) spent nearly two hours trying to rescue vital equipment while surrounded by constant enemy fire in the centre of Basra on 21 May 2007. Following his citation, The Duchess of Cornwall, Royal Colonel of the 4th Battalion, the Rifles and now Queen Consort, wrote to him as follows: “‘To have operated in such a dedicated and tireless manner, in the face of a determined enemy, can only be described as an astonishing feat.”

The action arose on the first day of 4 Rifles battle-group’s tour in Basra city, when R Company was tasked with a re-supply convoy to and from the Provincial Joint Co-ordination Centre – an isolated base in the heart of Basra.

On the return leg the convoy came under ferocious contact on a busy junction in a militia stronghold. The ambush involving over 100 insurgents firing small arms and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs), destroyed a fuel tanker, caused two fatalities and severely damaged a civilian low loader carrying Saxon and Land Rover, which limped to a canal crossing before breaking down blocking the bridge.

The loss of military vehicles in the centre of Basra would have allowed the militias to claim a significant victory – the decision was taken to fight to recover the vehicles.

Whilst this contact was going on, Corporal Miller, a recovery mechanic, was on standby in Basra Palace. The complexity and nature of the breakdown meant that the Foden (an unprotected soft-skin wheeled recovery truck) was the only recovery asset capable of performing the task, so Corporal Miller and Lance-Corporal Burn (the Foden driver) were despatched to the scene. They were escorted three miles to the breakdown site by a platoon from R Company.

By the time they arrived, the platoon at the bridge were engaged in an intense gun battle with about 75 militia engaging from 15-20 firing points, on roofs, alleyways, cars and from the Iraqi Police Station at rages of 50 to 200 metres and in a 360° radius. The noise of automatic fire, metallic ringing of bullets striking vehicles and repeated explosions of RPG warheads on the Warriors and Bulldogs was continuous and deafening. Into this maelstrom drove Corporal Miller in his Foden, carefully reversing up to the disabled low-loader before dismounting without hesitation.

The soldiers, fighting for their lives from under armour, watched in fear of Corporal Miller’s life, as he ran forward 50 metres across the exposed bridge, in complete view of the enemy to begin his assessment.

For the next 45 minutes, with only one single Bulldog to provide a shield at the site – scant protection in a 360° and three-dimensional urban battle – he worked on the recovery, attempting first to bleed the brakes, then to unhook the tractor unit, and then to cut the securing chains for the Saxon and Land Rover. He repeatedly ran back to the company commander’s Bulldog to report on his progress. Throughout this period, he was under continuous and heavy fire with bullets striking the road, bridge railings and vehicle he was working on, often only inches from him.

The militia then resorted to firing RPGs to attempt to destroy the low-loader and its high profile military cargo. Over a period of 15 minutes, five RPGs detonated on the vehicle, no more than a few feet from Corporal Miller as he worked. It is a miracle he survived.

Despite his extraordinary dedicated and resourceful efforts, the low loader ultimately proved too severely damaged to be towed and only at this point, with all options exhausted, did Corporal Miller return to the Palace.

In all, he was exposed, either in the Foden or dismounted, for nearly two hours, much of that time under constant and heavy enemy fire including over 20 RPGs. Despite these threats and the inherent danger of a fuel explosion, he displayed icy nerve, professional dedication of the very highest order and almost suicidal courage in an impossible situation.

As the citation noted, “In a tour characterised by numerous acts of courage in heavy urban fighting, Corporal Miller’s actions stand out as the defining example of bravery under fire. His premeditated and determined conduct showed conspicuous gallantry of a very high order.”

Instituted in 1993, to date a total of 60 Conspicuous Gallantry Crosses have been awarded (together with one unit award to the Royal Irish Regiment), of which two were for operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina; two were for operations in Sierra Leone; 15 were for operations in Iraq; and 41 for operations in Afghanistan. Miller’s award is unique to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, and as no member of the R.E.M.E. has been awarded either the V.C. or the G.C. he is therefore the Corps’ highest-decorated soldier.

Miller was invested with his Conspicuous Gallantry Cross by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on 4 June, 2008, and in December of that year was further honoured by the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers with the opening of “Miller’s Bar” at 6 Close Support Battalion’s Tidworth base. He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in September 2013, and having been advanced Warrant Officer Class II, was discharged in January 2023, after 24 years’ exemplary service.

As well as the CGC group itself, the lot includes Miller’s Certificate of Service; programme for the recipient’s Investiture at Buckingham Palace on 4 June, 2008, with named ticket; a photographic image of the recipient receiving the C.G.C. from H.M. Queen Elizabeth II; and various letters of congratulations on the award of the C.G.C., including those from:
- H.R.H. The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Colonel-in-Chief, R.E.M.E.
- H.R.H. The Duchess of Cornwall, Royal Colonel, 4th Battalion, The Rifles, and signed ‘Camilla’
- General Sir David Richards, Commander-in-Chief, Land Command
- Lieutenant-General Nick Parker, Colonel Commandant, The Rifles
- Major-General Tim Tyler, Colonel Commandant, R.E.M.E.
- Major-General Barney White-Spunner, General Officer Commanding, 3rd Division
- Brigadier James Bashall, Commander, 1st Mechanised Brigade
- Brigadier Brian McCall, Director Electrical and Mechanical Engineering
- Colonel Richard Bennett, Regimental Colonel, R.E.M.E.
- Colonel Andrew Brown, Commander, Equipment Support
- Lieutenant-Colonel Bob Fram, 6th Battalion, R.E.M.E.