Highland war hero’s medals up for auction Bravery gongs could sell for £4000
THE gallantry medals of a brave Scot who led a bayonet attack on a German stronghold in World War I could fetch more than £4000 at auction today.
During an astonishing military career, Sergeant Dan Gray led troops on the Western Front.
He was in charge of a 10- man team who captured or killed 60 enemy soldiers after storming a German chemical works at Roeux in northern France. Despite being outnumbered six to one , the Seaforth Highlanders captured the enemy position.
He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal – second only to the Victoria Cross for bravery – for his “gallantry and devotion to duty”.
Dan added a Bar in September 1917 after rallying his men when the
Germans broke through their position.
They pushed the enemy back but suf fered heavy losses.
Dan survived the war and received a hero’s reception when he returned home to
Inverness. His older brother, Willie, was a professional footballer before World War 1, playing for Partick Thistle and Southampton. He died at the Somme, aged 34.
Following Dan’s death in 1963, aged 72, a fellow soldier wrote: “Let us hope he will be reunited with his brother and the rest of our comrades, with whom we shared our biscuits, bully beef and our dreams of home.”
Dan’s medals – the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Bar, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal – are being sold by a private col lector by auctioneers Bosleys. Bernard Pass, of Bosleys, said: “The Distinguished Conduct Medal is one grade below the Victoria Cross, the highest bravery medal.
“It is awarded for great acts of gallantry, so for Sgt Gray to win it twice shows a determined character beyond the norm.
“He appears to have been determined ‘not to let the side and fellow players down’ and carry out his duty for king and country and the memory of his brother.”