Bravery medals belonging to a British soldier who single-handedly took out two enemy machine gun posts despite a bomb blowing up in his face, emerge for sale for £5,000.
Company Sergeant-Major Thomas Mattock was awarded six medals during his long military career.
He served in France, the Middle East, the Western Desert and was part of the ‘Desert Rats’ — a group of British soldiers who helped defeat the Germans in North Africa during World War II.
His exploits during the withdrawal from the Gazala line in Libya in June 1942 saw him awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for ‘magnificent courage’.
The DCM was a decoration established in 1894 by Queen Victoria for gallantry and is second only to the Victoria Cross.
Now, the DCM and his other medals are due to go under the hammer with London-based auctioneers Spink & Son on July 25.
Company Sergeant-Major Thomas Mattock who was awarded six medals during his military career
Left to right: Company Sergeant-Major Thomas Mattock’s Distinguished Conduct Medal, 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, Defence and War Medals 1939-45 and Efficiency Medal
While serving in the East Yorkshire Regiment, Mattock approached machine gun nests with a comrade who was almost instantly killed.
Despite wounds to his face, neck and arm caused by a Breda bomb, Mattock pushed forward to complete the task alone.
He was armed with only a rifle and some hand grenades but managed to smash up the enemy guns and relieve his company.
Mattock’s citation read: ‘He went in with a private soldier to clear up the post but the soldier was mortally wounded before they made contact.
‘Although only armed with a rifle and some hand grenades, he went on alone, accounted for his men and smashed up the guns by firing into the locks.
‘He then went to clear the nest in the rear, which was pinning down the company.
Company Sergeant-Major Thomas Mattock (left) pictured with a fellow soldier
‘Although he was wounded about the neck, shoulders and face, he carried on and accounted for his men with hand grenades and brought back a prisoner who tried to stop him.
‘He was then pinned down by our own barrage for at least two hours.
‘It had been opened up to support the spearhead company, the support group not knowing that the way had been made clear by his brilliant actions.’
Mattock, from Daventry, Northamptonshire, served as a drummer before joining the 5th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment.
He fought in France with the British Expeditionary Force and was evacuated from Dunkirk in May 1940.
Mattock served in the Middle East then the Western Desert, where he took part in armoured battles near the Egyptian frontier.
He later saw service in Italy before his final wartime appointment at 182 PoW Base Camp in Scotland.
Post-war, he set up a building business and died in Hornsea, East Yorkshire, aged 64 in 1970.
Mattock’s certificate from the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, which is one of the largest fraternal movements in the UK
Marcus Budgen, head of the Spink & Son medals department, said: ‘Company Sergeant-Major Mattock should be celebrated as one of General Montgomery’s ‘Desert Rats’, that gallant Band of Brothers who fought across the inhospitable Western Desert during the Second World War.
‘Mattock showed his abilities during the famed Gazala Battles in June 1942, when he single-handedly took out two enemy machine-gun nests.
‘The Distinguished Conduct Medal he earned is just one away from the Victoria Cross and shows the sheer tenacity and bravery of the man.’
His medal group consists of the Distinguished Conduct Medal; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Efficiency Medal.
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