NOONANS to sell important ‘secret’ medal given to only welshman who participated in operation jaywick - the GREAT australian WW2 commando raid on singapore harbour –

A Secret medal awarded following ‘Operation Jaywick’ in 1943 – one of the greatest raids of WW2 – when the Australian Commandos performed a raid on Japanese-occupied Singapore Harbour in a vessel disguised as an Asian fishing boat will be offered by Noonans Mayfair in their auction of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria (Wednesday, January 17, 2024).

Only two British men participated in the historic mission and the medals belonging to Welshman Acting Sergeant, later Major Ronald George ‘Taffy’ Morris of the Royal Army Medical Corps who was attached to the Special Operations Executive (S.O.E) are expected to fetch £60,000-80,000. The collection is being sold by the recipient’s son who has recently written a book about his father’s exploits.

Christopher Mellor-Hill, Head of Client Liaison at Noonans commented: “Very few people are aware of Operation Jaywick which was one of the greatest SOE ‘Clandestine’ Commando raids of WW2 in the Far East. It was a great success but always kept secret along with Morris’ gallantry award but hopefully his full story and that of Operation Jaywick as told by his son in his new book The Tigers Revenge will ensure that their amazingly dangerous and brave but successful commando raid is now more widely appreciated.”

Ronald George ‘Taffy’ Morris was born at Pentre, in the Rhondda Valley, on Christmas Day 1918, and after leaving school at the age of 14 was employed as a miner. After five years in the South Wales pits, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps on 30 May, 1938, and after Japan entered the War he was recruited as a Medical Orderly to join the Special Operations Executive, Orient Mission, arriving in Singapore on 19 April, 1941. Here he met fellow S.O.E. Operative, the charismatic old Harrovian Captain Ivan Lyon of the Gordon Highlanders. The pair of them were soon part of an unorthodox group undertaking clandestine missions, training up local groups in the art of sabotage to be undertaken behind enemy lines.

After Operation Jaywick he was honoured with a ‘secret’ Military Medal for his gallantry and distinguished service as Medical Orderly in the MV Krait during her hazardous and highly audacious 48-day 4,000 mile round trip Commando raid, under the command of Major Lyon, on Japanese occupied Singapore Harbour in September 1943, resulting in the sinking and destruction of seven enemy ships totalling 37,000 tons - the deepest surface waterborne penetration behind enemy lines undertaken by special forces in the Second World War. With no uniforms, no identity tags, and flying the Japanese flag, there would only have been one outcome for the crew if they were captured - failure was not an option.

Morris was not the only one to be presented with the medal after the raid - Corporal Crilly – the ships cook was given one too. Morris’ Military Medal was approved by H.M. the King on 17 May 1944, on the Secret List, with the instruction that it was not to be published in the London Gazette until it had been taken off the Secret List.
Morris retired from the British Army with the rank of Major in 1972. Returning to Wales, he died in Wrexham on 19 January 1999. Reflecting upon his father’s career, Morris’ son, Evan, would later write: “My father’s life was shaped by his war experiences as he had achieved the almost impossible by joining the army prior to the War as a private soldier and rising up through the ranks to become a major. Something quite incredible for an ex-miner from the Rhondda. However, in the following years and throughout his career he never forgot the loss of his wartime colleagues, especially Ivan Lyon. From Miner to Major - a fitting epitaph.”