THE battle scarred face of old soldier, Patrick Doolan, bears testament to one of the most shocking and costly mix ups in British military history. As one of the gallant 600, Private Doolan rode into the valley of death during the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava.
That he survived when so many around him perished is something of a miracle. Gunshot smashed into Doolan's face as the British, under Lord Cardigan, bore suicidally into massed Russian artillery on October 25th, 1854.
He was flung from his horse, his lower jaw fractured on both sides and blood pouring from his wounds. He was rescued from beneath thundering hooves by an officer, a Major de Sallis.
Doolan recovered from his shocking injuries, which included damage to several important nerves, sufficiently to take part in the siege of Sebastopol in 1855.
His Balaclava wounds had taken their toll, however, and Doolan, who was 29 when he took part in the ill fated charge which left 247 of his comrades dead or injured, was then discharged as unfit for duty and lived off a relief fund in Ireland for the rest of his life.
But Doolan's Crimea medals survived, together with a newspaper photograph of him proudly wearing them, published after his death in Dublin on August 7th, 1904.
Now the medals - and the faded photo of the veteran - have surfaced as a poignant reminder of the tragic misunderstanding which led to the most famous of all cavalry charges and was immortalised in Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem The Charge of the Light Brigade.
The Crimea Medal of 1854, with three clasps, for Alma, Balaclava and Sebastopol, together with the Turkish Crimea War Medal awarded a year later, are estimated to fetch around £1,000 at Sothebys in Billingshurst, West Sussex, on April 11th.
A medal specialist, David Erskine Hill, said yesterday: "It is very unusual to get a photograph of a Charger. Pictures of officers were taken as photography became more commonplace, but not many have survived of other ranks. Medals of those who took part in the legendary Charge of the Light Brigade are highly prized."
Doolan was born in Nenagh in Co Tipperary in May 1825 and enlisted at Dublin on March 18th, 1846, receiving a "bounty" of £5 15s 6d. He joined the 8th Hussars, previously known as the Dragoons.
After his death, his photo and a four line caption appeared in a local Dublin paper, merely relating: "Patrick Doolan, late 8th Hussars. He was shot through the head in the Charge of the Light Brigade and has died in Dublin."
Through an error in the transmission of orders, the light cavalry under Lord Cardigan made the charge after a misunderstanding between Lord Raglan, the British commander in chief, and Lord Lucan, the cavalry commander.