Rorke’s Drift hero’s medal fetches £72k
A MEDAL awarded to a tragic hero who took on hundreds of Zulus from his hospital room at Rorke’s Drift has sold for £72,000.
Private Robert Adams was part of the 150-strong British garrison that defied all odds to thwart attacks by 4000 warriors in 1879.
The 12-hour rearguard was immortalised in the epic 1964 film Zulu, starring Michael Caine.
Pte Adams was among wounded in the mission hospital in South Africa.
He and Gunner Arthur Howard held off hundreds of warriors with their rifles – but Pte Adams was eventually killed.
His Zulu War Medal was sold by auctioneers Spink & Son, whose Marcus Budgen said: “No action in British history has eclipsed the feats performed.”