Shropshire SAS hero's medals could fetch £50,000

A group of medals awarded to a Shropshire war hero are expected to go under the hammer for up to £50,000 when they are put up for auction in London tomorrow.

Sergeant Jack Byrne, who died in 2007 aged 85, was one of the original members of the SAS and took part in the first SAS raid in 1941. But in retirement he lived quietly - running a wool shop in Teagues Crescent, Trench.

His medal collection, which is being sold by a private collector, is described as an "extremely rare and important" group of eight awards, including the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Jack Byrne's military career read like an adventure story. He was injured by shrapnel during the Fall of France, bayoneted, evacuated, served in the Western Desert with the SAS, captured (during which he was grazed by a shot in the face), held prisoner, escaped to Sweden, flew back to Britain in the bomb bay of a Mosquito bomber, joined the Commandos, landed on D-Day, and was wounded again.

He was one of SAS founder David Stirling's original L Detachment which carried out a parachute raid on enemy bases in North Africa.

He went on to serve as a policeman in Malaya during the Malayan emergency, and was dangerously wounded when a terrorist shot him in the stomach at point blank range in 1953.

Mr Byrne wrote about his exploits in his 1986 book, The General Salutes A Soldier - which he originally wrote while recovering in hospital after being shot in the knee after the Normandy landings in 1944.

In his civilian life Mr Byrne, who was born in Preston and brought up in a tough Lancashire orphanage, ran a wholesale drapery and fancy goods business in Shropshire.

The medals - the DCM and various campaign and service medals - are being auctioned by auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb.

Also included in the sale is Byrne's book, and comprehensive research, including a copy of a 12-page MI9 report detailing the story of his captivity and eventual escape.

By Toby Neal