Falklands War bravery medal sells for £65k

Baz Grayling was awarded with the Military Medal at Buckingham Palace in November 1982 for his role in the Battle of Goose Green

A medal awarded to a teenage soldier who took part in the Battle of Goose Green has sold for £65,000.

Baz Grayling, who grew up in Felixstowe, Suffolk, received the Military Medal for his role in the Falklands War battle in May 1982, when he was a 19-year-old corporal.

He helped take a machine gun post, but his best friend Pte Gaz Bingley was killed in the night-time assault.

Mr Grayling died aged 60 in December and his widow Sheri put his medals up for auction. The Military Medal was bought by a collector of British gallantry honours.

His Military Medal (left) was sold as a collection with his two other service medals. Mr Grayling's Army career lasted more than 10 years

Christopher Mellor-Hill, head of client liaison at auctioneers Noonans said: "Having met the family and getting to know what a wonderful man Baz Grayling was, I am very pleased to see Baz's medals did so well.

"Knowing that it was his wish to give his widow some added financial security with their sale, we are very pleased that this has been achieved with today's auction result."

Ms Grayling said her husband had "tried to talk to me about selling the medals when he was sick, and I wouldn't hear it", so he told her daughter Shelly to make her do it.

Goose Green was a 14-hour struggle, which pitted the heavily outnumbered 2 Para, without proper fire support, against the Argentine garrison

The corporal served with the 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, known as 2 Para, during the war.

The conflict began in April 1982, when Argentina invaded the remote British overseas territory, and the Battle of Goose Green was its first and longest battle.

Mr Grayling's company commander, Maj Phil Neame, said he and Pte Bingley displayed the "immediate get up and go and flair that really got us out of a very sticky situation".

Lance-Corp Bill Bentley, 2 Para's medic, said the pair made "a frontal charge on an Argie machine-gun post" and Mr Grayling "was hit at close range in his water bottle; it exploded, shattering his hip".

The conflict ended on 14 June 1982, having claimed the lives of 255 British servicemen, three islanders and 649 Argentine personnel.

Mr Grayling met his wife while on rest leave in Miami, Florida, in 1988, and two years later moved to the United States to marry her.

The couple both worked at the city's Pasco High School for 20 years, where he was a discipline assistant coaching soccer, track, cross country and girls' tennis.