He was a highly-decorated Second World War veteran, served with the elite SAS and commanded the Bermuda Regiment. Now his military decorations and medals are available at auction.

The late Lt. Col. John Anthony (Tony) Marsh enrolled in the British Army's Officer Training Corps, and the Artist Rifles volunteer regiment, soon after he finished school.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was commissioned into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) and sent to Egypt.

There was no battalion to join he arrived after the devastating battle of Bir-el-Harmat in 1942.

The military man requested a transfer into the Special Air Service (SAS), a special forces regiment, and was accepted.

He served in North Africa and is believed to be the first British officer to enter Tripoli, Libya after it was captured by Allied forces.

In 1943 the then-Captain Marsh led 56 men on a successful raid on Termoli on the Italian coast. Despite heavy mortar fire, machine gunning and shelling, they killed 100 enemies, captured 200 more, and lost only one man.

He served behind enemy lines with the Special Raiding Squad in Belgium, Holland, Germany and Norway where he helped to disarm some 300,000 German troops.

A Distinguished Service Order, an award given for meritorious or distinguished service in the armed forces, came later.

After the war Capt. Marsh led a somewhat tamer life as a staff officer in various locations around the world.

He came to Bermuda in 1954 as part of the DCLI, the last British troops to garrison the military base at Prospect.

On retirement in 1957, he worked for Bermuda's Trade Development Board. Six months later he was commissioned into the Bermuda Militia Artillery.

As commander of the Bermuda Regiment, Lt. Col. Marsh met world leaders, royalty and dignitaries including the late US President John F. Kennedy and Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, also deceased.

He was responsible for co-ordinating the first Tall Ships race, in 1964, and ran the press office for the Newport to Bermuda Race. He was also the assistant director of Tourism in the late 1970s.

Lt. Col. Marsh died suddenly on November 14, 1984 at his Devonshire home.

He was 64. He is buried alongside his wife, Priscilla, at the Old Devonshire Church.

His family has now compiled a catalogue of his medals, military documents and photos that will be sold by Warwick & Warwick auction house in Warwick, England.

Some of the more eminent medals in the auction collection include a Military Order of The British Empire (OBE), two Mentioned In Dispatches (MID) awards, and a Territorial Efficiency Medal.

The auction starts December 11, 7 a.m. Bermuda time. Online bidding and a complete list of Lt. Col. Marsh's medals are accessible through Warwick & Warwick's website, www.warwickandwarwick.com.