Legendary SAS commander Paddy Mayne could now be awarded with the Victoria Cross for his WW2 heroics after Mail campaign

Legendary SAS commander Paddy Mayne could be posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross after the government announced a probe into claims he was denied the gallantry medal because of a glaring ‘clerical error’.

The Mail on Sunday revealed last weekend how Lieutenant-Colonel Blair Paddy Mayne – whose heroics during the Second World War feature in the BBC drama series SAS Rogue Heroes – may have been refused the VC because senior officers assessing his citation misunderstood the rules over awarding the medal and made an embarrassing mistake.

Now, in an extraordinary development, defence minister Al Carns has told MPs that a review will be launched into the controversial decision, made 80 years ago, to award Lt Col Mayne a Distinguished Service Order – his fourth – instead of the VC.

It is believed to be the first time such a review into a medal decision has taken place – and could result in Lt Col Mayne’s medal being dramatically upgraded.

Historian and SAS expert Damien Lewis today hailed the review, which will be carried by Whitehall’s Honours Committee, as ‘nothing short of a massive breakthrough’.

‘This is history in the making and the Mail and MoS should be praised for kicking off and leading this groundbreaking campaign with such verve and spirit. Top journalism in action.

‘Hopefully, the review just announced will achieve what is only right – awarding Mayne the VC he was denied in Autumn 1945.’

Lieutenant-Colonel Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne (pictured) was recommended for a VC for smashing through a Nazi ambush near Oldenburg in western Germany on April 9, 1945

Lt Col Mayne, who was depicted by Jack O’Connell in Rogue Heroes, was recommended for a VC for smashing through a Nazi ambush near Oldenburg in western Germany on April 9, 1945.

His actions that day – repeatedly driving through the blistering ambush in his open-top, lightly armoured jeep, with his gunner, Sergeant John Scott, laying down ferocious fire from the mounted machine guns – saved many of his comrades from death or capture.

But despite such astonishing heroism, the recommendation for him to receive VC was later downgraded in Whitehall.

The MoS revealed on Sunday how a newly unearthed document in a military archive in Canada suggested that senior officers assessing Lt Col Mayne’s citation appear to have made an embarrassing mistake by confusing the word ‘signal’ with ‘single’.

The Royal Warrant that instituted the VC in 1856 states that the medal is awarded to those who have performed ‘some signal act of valour or devotion to their country.’

But Lt Col Mayne appears to have missed out because he received help from a Sergeant Scott which, it was argued, meant his feat was not a ‘single’ act of valour.

A letter written by Brigadier JRC Gannon, a senior British Army officer, in July 1945 praised Lt Col Mayne’s ‘magnificent act of heroism’ but warned there was a ‘certain flaw’ in the citation.

Lt-Col Mayne’s heroics in the Second World War are featured in the BBC drama series SAS Rogue Heroes (pictured)

Brig Gannon wrote: ‘It was not a single-handed act of heroism, rescuing the wounded, as another officer was present in the jeep giving covering fire.

‘Nevertheless, it was a magnificent performance and it is suggested that the rare distinction of a third bar to the DSO would be the appropriate award.’

He suggested that he had consulted Sir Colville Wemyss, one of the most senior Generals in Whitehall, who agreed that Mayne’s heroics were not ‘quite up to VC standard’.

Ministers have previously refused to review Lt Col Mayne’s awards because of a long-standing rule that British bravery medals are not ‘granted retrospectively’.

But in a dramatic breakthrough, Veterans Minister Alistair Carns, a former Royal Marine who has himself won the Military Cross and DSO for his heroism on operations, told MPs on Tuesday that ‘clerical mistakes’ can be ‘fixed’.

He said: ‘It is recognised that clerical mistakes in judgments or orders, or errors arising from any accidental slip or omission in language, can explicitly be fixed—and there is no time limit for doing so—as long as the intent of the original decision holds.

‘As a Member of Parliament who has a mention in dispatches, a Military Cross and a DSO, I will take note of the new evidence that has been highlighted, its context, and the exceptional circumstances of this debate, and I will ask the honours and awards committee to review the evidence and find a decision.

The decision not to award a posthumous Victoria Cross (pictured) was criticised by three former defence secretaries including Sir Ben Wallace and Grant Shapps

‘Once the decision is found by that independent body, it will be finalised. That will provide an answer, once and for all, on how Paddy Mayne’s service is recognised.’

He added that he had the ‘greatest respect’ for the campaign for Lt Col Mayne to be awarded a VC, describing him as ‘without doubt one of the greatest heroes of the Second World War.’

The crucial letter by Brigadier Gannon was discovered after research commissioned by Damien Lewis and Patric McGonigal, great nephew of Mayne’s closest wartime comrade Eoin McGonigal. It was unearthed in a Canadian archive because Lt Col Mayne’s SAS unit was embedded with Canadian forces in Germany in 1945.

Mr Lewis added: ‘Patric remains determined in his great uncle’s memory to see Mayne’s valour properly recognised and he has led the way in unearthing key documents.

‘This will be a VC for all of the UK’s special forces – no British member of the SAS has ever been awarded a VC.

‘For decades the campaign to get Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne properly recognised for his incredible valour battling the Nazis in the Second World War has been stymied by the roadblock of officialdom.

‘Now, thanks to Al Carns’s brave and principled stand, the logjam has been broken.’

Democratic Unionist MP Jim Shannon, who tabled the Commons debate, described the wartime actions of Lt Col Mayne, who was from Newtownards in Northern Ireland, as the ‘stuff of which legends are made’.

‘When we were boys in Newtownards and Ballywalter many years ago, we looked to be that person. It is the stuff of which many of us dreamed as young boys and acted out in our gardens,’ he added.

‘Blair Mayne was certainly a hero of mine as a young child, many years ago. His actions were those of a man who put others first, and who went above and beyond the call of duty.

‘There is absolutely no doubt that his actions on that day were heroic, and worthy of recognition and commendation.’

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