'Our local boy must take his rightful place in history': Westminster to hear bid to get SAS founding member and war hero Blair Mayne the Victoria Cross he was denied in life

The DUP MP behind the move says it’s time for Lt Col Mayne to “take his rightful place in history” – and for parliament to right an historical wrong – by awarding the posthumous honour.

The Second World War hero still looms large in the cultural life of Co Down, honoured with statues and a civic building named after him in hometown Newtownards, while his story recently reached the nation’s screens in hit BBC TV drama SAS: Rogue Heroes.

But it has long been considered an injustice that, despite his wartime bravery, he was never awarded a Victoria Cross (VC) despite being approved for one by no less an authority than Field Marshal Montgomery and even King George VI remarking that the honour “so strangely eluded him”.

Battling through northern Germany in April 1945, Lt Col Mayne launched a daring rescue of a squadron of SAS jeeps trapped by heavy fire on a reconnaissance mission.

As the regiment’s commanding officer, he wasn’t supposed to be in the field – but dashed to the scene as soon as word of the German ambush came through, repeatedly putting himself directly in harm’s way to get his wounded and terrified men to safety. Cited for a VC, his award was instead downgraded to a third bar on his Distinguished Service Order.

Over the decades since his 1955 death in a car accident, campaigns have been mounted to have Blair Mayne awarded a posthumous VC, with some theorising he was only denied it due to anti-Irish prejudice.

Tomorrow (8th) the House of Commons is due to hear a debate on the issue, brought by Strangford MP Jim Shannon, who says he wants to see “our local boy take his rightful place in history”.

Said Mr Shannon: “The BBC drama based on Blair Mayne, whilst not entirely accurate, has been successful in highlighting the heroic actions of this Newtownards man who was one of the founders of the SAS.

"For many years, I have been seeking to secure the recognition which was surely Blair Mayne’s, and I have been successful in securing the debate to ask government to make right and secure Blair Mayne’s legacy.

"During the debate, I will seek to make the case for our local boy to take his rightful place in history, supported by MPs from my own party, from Northern Ireland and from each area of this United Kingdom.”

A qualified solicitor, Blair Mayne was a sporting success before the war, becoming a champion boxer and also playing international rugby for Ireland and the British Lions.

Joining the army shortly before the Second World War, he was recommended for the nascent SAS as it was being formed in 1941, and he went on to prove the worth of the new organisation in daring raids on airfields deep behind enemy lines in Egypt and Libya.

He was known as one of the bravest men to never win a VC, and SAS founder David Stirling said it was a “monstrous injustice” that Blair Mayne wasn’t decorated with the nation’s highest honour.