A former SAS trooper from Glasgow is auctioning off his medals because he has ‘too much stuff’.
Peter McAleese, who has been described as ‘the ultimate professional soldier’, is putting his entire personal collection under the hammer.
The 77-year-old has served with Britain’s Parachute Regiment, the SAS, Rhodesia’s SAS and the South African Defence Force.
He’s battled drug barons in Columbia, trained bodyguards in Moscow and taken on security work in Algeria and Iraq and was even part of a special taskforce set up in an attempt to assassinate Pablo Escobar.
McAleese’s personal collection goes under the hammer at Richard Winterton Auctioneers’ Fine Arts & Specialist Sale.
At the helm is his three-bar General Service Medal named to Trooper SAS as part of a unique group of nine medals.
The collection, which also includes McAleese’s berets, dog tags and even a handmade ceramic plaque painted by staff in Algeria as a tribute during his stint organising security, is estimated to fetch up to £22,000.
The divorced dad-of-three has decided to part with the archive of a lifetime’s soldiering after downsizing to a one-bed flat in his adopted home of Birmingham, where he once ran The Gunmakers Arms pub.
“I’m just an ordinary person, who happened to find himself doing extraordinary things. I mean that from the bottom of my heart,” McAleese said.
“I’ve had a great life. I’m extremely happy at the moment and I have a marvellous relationship with my family.
“I enjoyed the Army – the Army was good to me. It just came to an end.
“I was a professional soldier and like a guy who is a brickie, for example, you go where the work is.”
He added: “I’ve ended up with quite a lot of personal militaria relating to my career and there was just too much stuff – it was just gathering dust.”
McAleese has detailed his extensive experiences in several books, including the stone-cold classic No Mean Soldier.
The Peter McAleese collection goes under the hammer at Richard Winterton Auctioneers’ Fine Arts & Specialist Sale at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Fradley Park, Staffordshire, starting at 10am on March 24.
