Last member of wartime SAS 'originals' Major Mike Sadler dies aged 103
4 January 2024, 20:32
The last remaining member of the elite World War Two SAS 'originals' regiment has died aged 103.
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Major Mike Sadler parachuted into Nazi-occupied France during the D-Day Normandy landings and carried out coordinated night-time raids across North Africa during the Second World War.
Recruited by David Stirling, the founder and creator of the Special Air Service, Sadler later served in MI6.
Much of his military career was spent working behind enemy lines carrying out night raids to target enemy aircraft.
Sadler died Thursday at a care home in Cambridge, and was confirmed by John Allcock, the secretary to the Special Air Service Regimental Association - a group supporting veterans of the elite group.
For his heroic actions in France, Sadler was awarded the Military Cross before a segment of the Antarctic was named in his honor.
He was also recognised for his extraordinary bravery against the Nazis by the French government, who gave them the country's highest honor, the Legion d'honneur.
Born in London in 1920, Sadler later spent time in Zimbabwe - then Rhodesia - as a farming student.
Salder was believed to be the last surviving member of the original SAS - then called the L Detachment.
“One of the essential things was not to let doubt creep into your mind,” The Times quoted Sadler as saying as he reflected on his time in the SAS.
“You have to be confident because it was awfully easy, especially at night, to start feeling you’re going wrong and you should be further to left or right.
"It was rather easy to give way to that feeling if you weren’t confident. It was a challenge, navigating, but I liked the challenge. I was young and you don’t really think about pressure at 21.”
The former military man is credited with guiding a convoy of 18 jeeps across 70 miles of desert sea during the night in 1942 - without the use of any headlights or navigation.
He was also cited as being part of a six-man team to attack a Wadi Tamet airfield in Libya, destroying 24 aircraft - thought to be the first SAS raid.
Paying respect to Sadler on X, Damien Lewis, a military historian who wrote several books on the SAS, said: "Very sad news indeed. Another one gone. We remember them - bravest of the brave."
Critically acclaimed BBC drama series SAS Rogue Heroes depicts the elite group during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Sadler is played in the series by English actor Tom Glynn-Carney.
