Hero Scottish soldier becomes second to sell his bravery medal to buy a house

A Scots war hero who won the Military Cross after taking on over 25 Iraqi gunmen is to sell his prized medal at auction for up to £20,000 next month, to raise money for a deposit on a house.

Tony Currie is selling his medals

Corporal Tony Currie, 47, of the King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) won the rare gallantry medal for his role in a prolonged fire fight with Iraqi insurgents on 8 August 2003.

It comes just a month after colleague Shaun Jardine sold his bravery medal earned for storming an enemy gun position to raise money to buy a house.

Cpl Currie, from Glasgow, was presented with the M.C. by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace the following year in recognition of his "selfless courage and inspirational leadership" in the face of the enemy.The medal is the only M.C. awarded to a member of the KOSB in Iraq.It will go under the hammer along with six other medals won by Cpl Currie at Dix Noonan Webb's Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria auction in London on September 15.The "superb 'Iraq 2003' M.C. group of seven medals" is expected to fetch £15,000-20,000, which Currie, who retired from the Army in 2006, hopes will help him buy a home.He was commanding a fire team near the Al Uzayr security base in Maysan Province in Southern Iraq on the night of 8 August 2003, when they came under heavy fire from an estimated 25 enemy armed with machine-guns, AK47 rifles and RPG7 rocket-propelled grenade launchers in five different positions less than 150 metres away.Leading his men in a frontal assault, Cpl Currie shot dead one enemy soldier before clearing two buildings and wounding two others. His official recommendation for the M.C. praised "Corporal Currie’s selfless courage and inspirational leadership during this action" and described how "he led his men tirelessly, often placing himself in extreme danger to allow his men to better identify targets and engage them".Christopher Mellor-Hill, head of client liaison at Dix Noonan Webb, said: "This is a unique set of awards, including the only Military Cross to the King's Own Scottish Borderers for Iraq."Corporal Tony Currie was also one of those who went back out to help rebuild and kick start life again. After years of working in Iraq and Afghanistan, helping with reconstruction work and security, he is now looking to make his home again back in Scotland."When you hold these medals in your hand, you are holding part of history. Awards for Iraq are highly prized and we expect a lot of interest."The action that led to his M.C. is documented in the personal account of Corporal Shaun Jardine in Dan Collins' book In Foreign Fields. Jardine won the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross (C.G.C.) in another firefight the following morning, and recently sold his medal through Dix Noonan Webb for £140,000.Mr Mellor-Hill added: "Following the sale of Corporal Jardine’s C.G.C in July, we are extremely pleased to be offering Corporal Currie’s Military Cross as the other part of that story that does credit to all the soldiers of the King's Own Scottish Borderers at that time. Tony Currie, who lives just outside Glasgow, had decided to sell prior to Cpl Jardine with the same intention to establish a home for himself."