Noonans offering up Falklands War ‘Battle of Goose Green’ military medal grouping awarded to para who was saved by his water bottle

Noonans - The important Falklands War ‘Battle of Goose Green’ Military Medal group of three awarded to Corporal B. J. ‘Baz’ Grayling of 11 Platoon, ‘D’ Company, 2nd Battalion of The Parachute Regiment, for the epic frontal assault on the Argentine held Coronation Point will be included in the sale of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, at Noonans Mayfair (16 Bolton Street). The medals are being sold by his widow, Sheri.

Grayling, who was born and lived in Felixstowe, Suffolk, who was just 19 years old at the time, when he carried out the assault alongside his best friend ‘Gaz’ Bingley, who was sadly killed, and Grayling, later said that he felt that he was saved by his water bottle that deflected theArgentine bullets!

Their Company commander Major Phil Neame stated, “He’d (Bingley) gone to ground not really knowing quite where these machine-guns were and found himself virtually overlooking the position. He and Grayling just went in and did an immediate assault and the two of them took the five-strong position between them. But Bingley was killed in the process and Grayling slightly injured. It was that sort of immediate get up and go and flair that really got us out of a very sticky situation.’

Lance-Corporal ‘Bill’ Bentley M.M., 2 Para medic, later retrieved Bingley’s body from the battlefield. He commented: ‘It was a moving moment for everyone. Gaz was the first of our dead to be recovered. The story of his last few minutes of life had already reached us through Baz Grayling. They had been making a frontal charge on an Argie machine-gun post. Grayling was hit at close range in his water bottle; it exploded shattering his hip. As Grayling collapsed, still firing, they silenced the Argie MG. But as fate would have it the last few rounds squeezed off by the Argie gunner ripped through Gaz Bingley’s head, killing him instantly. Both Bingley and Grayling were awarded the Military Medal for their heroic effort.’

Christopher Mellor-Hill, Head of Client Liaison at Noonans, added: “In the dark of night in late May 1982, Baz Grayling was a true hero during their night attack on the enemy bunkers at Goose Green, one of the most important assaults during the Falklands War. Although Grayling and Bingley thought they could suppress the enemy fire, they found themselves just 10 metres from them. With a total disregard for their own safety, they immediately attacked and destroyed the enemy machine gun position.”

Grayling later added in another newspaper interview: ‘It was hard and tiring. My company kept attacking positions and pushing forward until we got to the airfield... I lost some very good friends out there. I am just glad the job is over and glad to be home.’

He was invested with his M.M. at Buckingham Palace, 25 November 1982, and a reception was held in his honour by the Mayor of Felixstowe

Corporal Grayling passed away last December, aged 60 years and his medals are being sold by his widow, Sheri. They met in 1998 when he was on a rest leave for two weeks in Miami from operations in Belize and he spotted her having a drink with a girlfriend on her once-a-week night off from being a single mum with two very young kids, one of each, and he immediately said to his mates “she’s the one for me!” He went over to chat to her and asked her out but when she said she had two little kids and no-one to baby sit them, he immediately told her to bring them too and he more or less proposed that week. He completed his engagement with the Parachute Regt as soon as he could so he could go to the States to marry her, and he raised the kids as his own …. and they are all lived happily ever after till he passed away. Sheri has found it difficult to sell his medals but has realized that they need a new home with someone who will appreciate his story.

Sheri added: “Barry bought me that car a month after we met because my car broke down; and he sent me payments like clockwork every month. He also wrote me a letter every single day for two years until he got out of the military and came to see us every three months for three weeks on leave. I’ve never known anyone like him before, he’s the most upstanding person I could’ve ever known and probably ever will know. We were like newlyweds for 36years - right up to the end!”

She finished by saying: “He tried to talk to me about selling the medals when he was sick, and I wouldn’t hear it. So, he told Shelly, my daughter, to make me do it so that I would have some financial security.”

They both worked together for 20 years at Pasco High in Tampa. He was a discipline assistant at the school, but also coached soccer, track, cross country and girls’ tennis. The school did a memorial 5K run for him last year in September, which will be repeated this year in September and in his honour, they also have started a scholarship for students in his name.

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NOONANS — A BRIEF HISTORY: In 1991, its first year of trading, the company held three medal auctions and sold 1,200 lots for a total hammer price of £553,000, however 30 years later, Noonans is established as the premier medal auctioneer worldwide. Two years later, in 1993, it opened a coin department which also auctions commemorative medals and tokens. In 2015 Noonans (then Dix Noonan Webb) added jewellery to its sales calendar as well as setting up a stand-alone banknotes department and expanding into premises next door. In 2024, they achieved a total hammer price of £23,655,855 and the total number of lots sold across all departments was 28,906. To date the company has sold in excess of 495,000 lots totalling over £275 million.