A SUPERB AND ALMOST TOTALLY UNIQUE GROUP OF NINE MEDALS, awarded to a member of the '22 Special Air Service Regiment' (S.A.S.) & 1st Btn Parachute Regiment, the recipient served his country in various theatres/conflicts and actions in the 1960's and after leaving the British Army continued to see Military Service & action in various Continents throughout the World, the group which is court mounted consists...(L to R) ERII General Service Medal 1918-1962, three bars, Borneo, South Arabia, Cyprus 1963-64, correctly named to 23782640 Trooper (TPR) P McAleese, S.A.S, United Nations Medal (UNICYP) Cyprus, Zimbabwe Independence medal, engraved 08233 on reverse, Rhodesia General Service medal named 728200 Cpl P. Mcleese, South Africa Pro Patria medal, (South African Defence Force), engraved 122596 on reverse, Southern Africa medal, 1987, engraved 003329 on reverse, South African General Service medal, engraved 059962 on reverse, Jasa-Malaysia (Malaysian Service medal) 1968-69 Emergency, Rhodesian Independance medal, 11.11.65-11.12.79,***the recipient states he was awarded the Cyprus Bar later and it was attached via a steel rod*** Peter McAleese was born 7th September 1942 in Glasgow, Scotland, near to the famous 'Barlinnie Prison', he would go on to enlist in the Parachute Regiment in Aberdeen at the age of 17 years, after basic training he was to become a member of the 1st Btns Mortar Platoon, he served with the Platoon until1962, whereafter due to completing the legendry selection course he became a member of the 22 Reg't S.A.S, he joined 'D' Sqdn and went to train with US Special Forces at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, being one of the first SAS Troopers to complete H.A.L.O. Parachute Training with the US Green Berets. He would see action, firstly in the Aden Crisis On a 16 man night patrol, (his enemy were the Arab Tribesman of the National Liberation Front), they came across a goatherd, after being called up to translate, this happened! (extract from No Mean Soldier by P McAleese..)'We assumed everything was going according to plan, and moved on carefully, the moon was not yet up and it was so dark in the narrow wadi I could only just see the rock walls rearing up beside us, five minutes later Dave Haley(Sgt) whispered 'Pete come up' there's some more chappies down here! I padded up to Dave, to speak to them and made out the dark shapes of a group of shepherds lying on the ground ahead, just as i started to speak, I saw one of them shift on his side, it was probably the way he moved which warned me and I thought this is never right, the Arab shot Dave Haley full in the chest, he should have shot me as I was the closest, but I was standing to one side......Dave collapsed badly wounded and I shot the Arab six times, then all hell broke loose. 'McAleese would later serve again in Aden and would become one of the first Parachute Reg't/SAS members to free-fall parachute into a 'hot zone' with Operation Snowgoose 'Radfan Emergency', McAleese served in Bahrain and Cyprus and served in Borneo with the SAS 16th Air troop (D Sqdn) being involved in the gruesome 'Jungle Warfare' of that conflict. It would be fair to say that when McAleese left the British Army in 1969 he had already seen plenty of action with the Regiment. He worked in the lucrative Industry of the North Sea Oil Rigs, but once a soldier, always a soldier and in 1975, this was all to change with a new career as a 'mercenary' fighting in the Angolan Civil War, fighting on behalf of the National Liberation Front of Angola, even assuming Command of the Formation after the Capture of 'Costas Georgiou'. In early 1977 he went to Rhodesia, where he enlisted with the Rhodesian Special Air Service Regiment, being assigned to A Sqdn, with the rank of a Non-Commissioned Officer, later in 1979 he joined the British South Africa S Police 'Special Branch' operating in South Rhodesia and after the fall of Rhodesia in 1980 he enlisted with the South Africa Defence Forces 44, Parachute Brigade, in which he served as Colour Sgt. In the early 80's he was instrumental in the creation of a new Pathfinder Reconnaissance unit, and served in the South Africa Border War, in the mid 1980's McAleese set up home in Pretoria and became employed with the COIN Security group, a Military/Police private contractor based in South Africa. He would go on to be severely injured in a near-fatal Parachute Display jump and would return to the UK. At the end of the 1980's he spent two years working for Government forces in the Columbian Drug Wars conflict, being involved in a covert Operation to locate and 'deal with' Pablo Escobar, he also went onto work in Moscow, Russia, as a Bodyguard Training Instructor and also undertook Security work in Algeria and later Iraq for several years, the recipient also ran a Public House in Birmingham, 'The Gunmakers Arms'. Peter McAleese was once quoted....'I'm just an ordinary person, who happened to find himself doing extraordinary things' and there is no doubt that this group represents a unique insight to the 'tough' world of being a professional soldier and its combination of awards is almost unique, the recipient not only served his country with 'distinction but led a very colouful military career throughout...the lot also consists of the following... Recipients Official issue Sand coloured SAS Beret, with cloth badge, South African Parachute Regiment Beret, Recipients official British Army Dog Tag, together with Rhodesian & South African Dogs Tags, Note: British Army Blood group was wrong), a large wooden SAS plaque obtained by the recipient at auction due to its provenance from a contact at 22 S.A.S. HQ, Hereford, a large ceramic tile plaque, hand made and painted by staff in Algeria during his time completing Security work etc, a hardback copy of 'No mean Soldier' by Peter McAleese, various frames containing cloth and metal insignia Parachute/SAS related, wall plaques SAS related, some hand made, stand with AK47 bayonet attached, presented to recipient by SA CP Team Algiers 2002, glazed certificates, US Airborne, South African Parachute Regiment, photo of recipient completing HALO jump over Rhodesia, South African ID/Driving licence etc, certificate of Service Rhodesian Army, boxed pewter SAS crest and weapon, horse brass letter opener, small pin badge & Bolo tie, US Special forces (parcel)
