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Decorated British Sniper Is Selling His War Medals To Pay For Home

Decorated British Sniper Is Selling His War Medals To Pay For Home

He's putting his Conspicuous Gallantry Cross and Operational Service Medal up for sale because he can't get on the property ladder

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

It's no secret that some of our servicemen and women struggle physically, mentally and financially when they return home from the battlefield. When stories of these experiences come to light, it's nothing short of heart breaking to hear the people who put their lives on the line aren't able to crack on with their lives in Britain.

That's no more relevant than for Lance Corporal Simon Moloney who nearly died during his deployment to Afghanistan in 2013.

He was a part of Operation Herrick and during a firefight he was shot in the neck.

BNPS

Medic Wesley Masters ran 400 metres under heavy fire to treat Moloney and quickly helped him deal with the wound, which miraculously missed vital arteries by millimetres. The bullet pierced the left side of his neck and exited out the right.

Minutes after he was treated by Masters, Moloney was back fighting the Taliban before he was extracted from the location by helicopter.

L/Cpl Moloney has told the Daily Mail: "Looking back it was one of the best days of my life but for five or 10 minutes I was pretty sure I was going to die.

"It felt as though I had been punched, there was blood pouring from my neck. Adrenaline had kicked in so I wasn't in pain. I was annoyed I had been shot because I knew who had shot me."

He was eventually awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross and Operational Service Medal for his services to the British army.

Moloney left the armed forces in December last year and has made the difficult decision to sell the medals in order to buy himself a home.

"I am incredibly proud of my medals and what they represent. It has been a big decision to sell them but also a logical one," he said.

"The money I hope to raise by selling my medals is life changing for someone in my position and is purely to give me and my future family a better life.

BNPS

"I will 100 per cent use it to get on the property ladder."

Less than 60 of the Conspicuous Gallantry Crosses have been handed out since they were introduced in 1993, and they are one step below a Victoria Cross.

Moloney lives in Hertfordshire, where the average house price sits just under a cool £400,000.

London auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb have given a pre-sale estimate of between £80,000 to £100,000 for the medal, in the auction which takes place in May.

Featured Image Credit: BNPS

Topics: Property, Community, british army, UK, Sniper, soldier