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50 13th November 2010 medals The real Colonel Kurtz unveiled…


HE has been called both the real life Colonel Kurtz (of Apocalypse Now fame) and the Lawrence of the Highlands. And his life story, published in the book Tiger Men last year, drew back the veil on CIA operations in Vietnam as early as 1963. Now Australian Barry Petersen’s story


is spreading further as he puts up for sale his Military Cross group pictured left. It will appear at Dix Noonan Webb on December 1 with an estimate of £60,000-80,000. It was as a 28-year-old Australian army


captain that Petersen, who had already proved himself a master of engaging the locals while in Malaya, was sent to North Vietnam. The year was 1963, before the start


of the Vietnam War, and Petersen, armed with little more than a large bag


THE Omdurman Charge is perhaps best known because of the small part played in it by Winston Churchill. But Baldwin’s September 29 sale


shed light on the tragic end met by one of his fellow Lancers on the day. Private William Etherington fi rst


appears on the Muster Rolls of the 21st Lancers taken at Canterbury on July 31, 1897. The 21st Hussars had been re-designated as the 21st Lancers on March 31 that year and were stationed in Abbasia, Egypt at the time. The Omdurman encounter arose after


the 21st Lancers began to move down into the Sudan in 1898: Etherington and B Squadron left Cairo on July 31, with A Squadron (which included the young Winston Churchill) leaving Cairo on August 3, and C Squadron on the 6th. The battle, which took place on the


outskirts of Khartoum on September 2, was the pivotal clash of the Mahdist War. The combined Anglo-Egyptian Force of


nearly 26,000 under General Sir Herbert Kitchener sought to reclaim and stabilise the Sudan region against the uprising led by Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad.


he managed to build up a force of 1200 guerillas operating in small groups. Within two years, he had a crack


force of fi ghters, which the CIA then determined to turn into trained assassins to target Viet Cong leaders in what was to become the Phoenix Programme. Petersen refused to cooperate, raising


questions among the Americans as to whether or not he had ‘gone native’ or developed a personality cult. A CIA agent took over the force, but,


of money, was sent up into the central Highlands, to train and lead a guerrilla force of the local Montagnard tribesmen to defend their villages and homes against the Viet Cong. So fi erce and effective did they prove that the Viet Cong soon dubbed them the Tiger Men. Traditional recruitment methods did


not impress, and Petersen discovered the best way to gain respect among the locals was to drink them under the table with their rice wine. He devised a trick where, pretending to drink from a jar, he siphoned the contents into a glass. He was so successful in winning support among the tribespeople that


Return to Omdurman – victory and tragedy


The two sides, with the Anglo-


Egyptian force outnumbered by almost two to one, met on the plain near the suburb of Omdurman. After a disastrous Mahdist frontal


attack, repelled by British artillery and Maxim guns, the Light Cavalry was sent out to clear the plain. Considering the visible enemy force to number only a few hundred, the 400 members of the 21st Lancers rode headlong into some 2500 men. Despite stiff opposition, the 21st Lancers cleared the Mahdist infantry, suffering the loss of 21 men and Lt R.S. Grenfell of the 12th Lancers (on attachment to the 21st Lancers) and 46 wounded. Private W Etherington was among the casualties. There have been very few Killed In


Action pairs for the Omdurman Charge sold at auction in recent years, the most


recent being at Dix Noonan Webb in December 1996 – the pair awarded to Private H Bradshaw, which took £4300. Etherington’s pair comprised a Queen’s


Sudan Medal, 1896-1898 (4054 Pte W. Etherington, 21st L’crs) and the Khedive’s Sudan Medal, 1896-1908, single clasp, Khartoum (4054 Pte. W. Etherington, 21st Lcrs); both offi cially engraved. They were sold with a copy of the


Sudan Medal roll mention, including his home address as 15 Lansdown Hill, West Norwood, Surrey. Poignantly, also included was a


small portrait of the youthful Private Etherington which appears on a regimental scroll drawn by Sergeant Hicks (late Grenadier Guards) in the early 1900s for the 21st Lancers’ Offi cers’ mess. The lot sold at the top end of its £3500-4000 estimate.


Above: this rare Killed In Action Omdurman Charge Pair took a top-estimate £4000 at Baldwin’s on September 29. It was awarded to Private William Etherington, who is also pictured.


unlike Petersen, did not live with his own men, directing them from afar. In the early 1970s Petersen returned


to fi nd that the Tiger Force was no more and the Viet Cong had the run of the Highlands. Now 75 and suffering from cancer,


Petersen has lived in Thailand since 1992.


WEST STREET AUCTION GALLERIES, LEWES, SUSSEX, ENGLAND BN7 2NJ TELEPHONE: +44 (0)1273 480208 FAX: (0)1273 476562


SALE 531


TUESDAY 16th NOVEMBER at 11am Viewing: previous Friday and Saturday mornings Over 600 lots of militaria, arms and armour


including nearly 100 lots of decorations and medals Illustrated catalogues £9


Lot 590: T e awards of James Rennie C.B.


Indian Navy 1827 - 1857 Email: auctions@wallisandwallis.org Website: www.wallisandwallis.org www.the-saleroom.com/wallisandwallis


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