Ian Bailey (British Army soldier)

Ian Philip Bailey, MM (born 1959) is a former British Army officer. As a Corporal in 4 Platoon, B Company, 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, he won the Military Medal for bravery during the Falklands War of 1982. He later sold the medal for a record price.

Battle of Mount Longdon
During the Battle of Mount Longdon on 12 June 1982, 4 Platoon's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Bickerdyke, along with Sergeant Ian McKay, a signaller and several other paratroopers went forward to reconnoitre the enemy positions. During this action Bickerdyke and the signaller were wounded by a heavy machine-gun position, so McKay took over command of the platoon. He decided to turn his reconnaissance into an attack on the machine gun's position, which was seriously threatening any advance. He took Bailey, then aged 22, and three other men with him and they charged the position. Bailey and two other men were wounded, the third man being killed as they charged forward into the enemy fire.

McKay carried on the attack alone, attacking and destroying the heavy machine-gun with grenades. He was killed at the moment of victory, his body falling onto the ruined enemy bunker. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery during the attack, which allowed the advance to continue. Corporal Bailey was  awarded the Military Medal.

Bailey later said of the attack on Mount Longdon:

Bailey was shot three times during the assault and the final bullet and the last of the shrapnel were not removed from his hip until 2009, he having been unaware that it was still there. He was also shot in the neck and the bullet severed the cord holding his identity tags; they were found in 1983 during a de-mining operation.

After the War
When McKay was buried at Aldershot Military Cemetery in 1982 Bailey was one of those who carried his coffin. Bailey later reached the rank of Warrant Officer Class I and was commissioned as a captain in the Parachute Regiment on 6 April 2000. He retired from the army on 3 December 2002. He then worked in the security industry. In November 2009 it was reported in the British media that he intended to sell his Military Medal group because he was unable to work following further surgery in 2009 to remove shrapnel from his hip left from his 1982 injuries. The medals sold at auction on 2 December 2009 to an anonymous British collector for a hammer price of £70,000, a record for a Military Medal.

Ian Bailey lives in Ash Vale in Surrey with his wife and two children.

Bailey's medals
  Military Medal, E.II.R., 2nd issue (24438472 Cpl I P Bailey Para)
  General Service Medal, with Northern Ireland clasp (24438472 L Cpl I P Bailey Para)
  South Atlantic Medal 1982, with rosette (24438472 Cpl I P Bailey Para)
  United Nations Medal, Cyprus
  NATO Medal, with Kosovo clasp
  Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
  Regular Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal E.II.R. (24438472 S Sgt I P Bailey Para).

His Military Medal was one of only 12 awarded to the Parachute Regiment and one of the total 34 awarded for the campaign.

References

External links
 
 

Category:1959 births
Category:Recipients of the Military Medal
Category:British Parachute Regiment soldiers
Category:British Army personnel of the Falklands War
Category:British Parachute Regiment officers
Category:Living people