John Waddy

Colonel John Llewellyn Waddy, (17 June 1920 – 27 September 2020) was a British Army officer who served during the Second World War, in Palestine and during the Malayan Emergency, before becoming Colonel of the SAS.

Joining the British Army shortly before the Second World War, he initially served with the Somerset Light Infantry in India. He subsequently volunteered for the Parachute Regiment and saw action in the Italian Campaign in late 1943. After returning to the United Kingdom with the 4th Parachute Brigade, part of the 1st Airborne Division, he took part in the Battle of Arnhem, where he was wounded and taken prisoner by German troops.

After the war, Waddy remained in the army and saw action in the Mandatory Palestine and during the Malayan Emergency, for which he was Mentioned in Despatches. He went on to hold a series of command posts with the Parachute Regiment, both at home and overseas, and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1963. He was an early incumbent in the post of Colonel SAS and did much to expand the Special Air Service's role. He subsequently held a number of military advisor positions, most notably in Washington DC, Vietnam, and after resigning from the military, with Westland Helicopters and during the filming of the movie A Bridge Too Far.

Early life John Waddy was born on 17 June 1920 in Taunton, Somerset, the son of Lieutenant Colonel Richard Henry Waddy and his wife Llewellyn. He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, and then as a cadet at Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Second World War North Africa and Italy Officers of the 151st Parachute Battalion in India, 1942. Captain Waddy is stood in the second row, sixth from the left.

On 3 July 1939, Waddy was commissioned into the Somerset Light Infantry as a second lieutenant and sent to India two months later with the 1st Battalion, then commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Harding. After travelling from Taunton to Scotland he sailed from Britain on the same day that Britain declared war on Germany. He was promoted to acting, then temporary, captain from September 1940, His time in India, however, was mostly spent on exercises with little chance of action. Desperate to leave, Waddy successfully volunteered for a new British parachute battalion when the chance came in August 1941, and in October joined the 151st Parachute Battalion as their intelligence officer. Parachuting was rudimentary in India and training jumps were made from Vickers Valentia biplanes. He qualified for his jump wings on the same day that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor,

In October 1942 the battalion was sent to North Africa and re-designated 156th Parachute Battalion, where it became the central unit of the new 4th Parachute Brigade, formed in December. Waddy was briefly made adjutant of the battalion, The 4th Brigade did not take part in the Allied invasion of Sicily but on 5 September the whole Division sailed to Taranto in Italy (Operation Slapstick), successfully capturing the port with 156th Battalion and brigade HQ in the vanguard. 1st Airborne Division was tasked with securing bridges across the Lower Rhine at Arnhem and 4th Parachute Brigade was detailed to occupy the northern approaches of the city in the event of a counterattack by German forces. The brigade was scheduled to arrive on the second day of the operation, 18 September, using drop zones protected by elements of 1st Airlanding Brigade. In the event, ground mist in England meant that the second lift was delayed by four hours, which spared the Dakota transport aircraft from meeting Luftwaffe fighters over the drop zone. Nevertheless, the aircraft encountered considerable anti-aircraft fire as they approached the drop zone. Waddy later recalled that his aircraft was so near to the ground that he could see the upturned faces of the German gun crews. He observed numerous flak bursts and watched the escorting Hawker Typhoon fighters attacking flak batteries as they approached the DZ. His own aircraft was hit in the tail but the pilot continued to the drop zone where, despite bad yawing, Waddy and his men were able to jump. and parachuted under heavy fire onto Ginkel Heath. Waddy's signaller lost his radio as he jumped behind him; the bulky equipment was hit by a round the moment he jumped out of the Dakota.

On the ground, an irate captain, who had expected the men four hours earlier, explained to a shocked Waddy the rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground. At about 5 pm they moved off along the Utrecht–Arnhem railway and met their glider-borne elements at Wolfheze just before being strafed by a German fighter. Approaching Oosterbeek they encountered German Panzer troops and stopped for the night. Lieutenant Colonel Sir Richard des Voeux ordered Waddy to take B Company through A Company's positions and continue the advance to the high ground, believing that there was not much opposition. In fact A Company had been nearly destroyed, and Waddy passed numerous bodies on his way forward. Faced with a heavy concentration of enemy armour, the attack stalled and was then called off; the battalion had taken such heavy casualties that it was reduced essentially to the size of a single company.

At the Regimental Aid Post, Waddy found that the doctors did not rate his chances particularly highly; He was taken next to a Field Ambulance post and from there to the Tafelburg hotel in Oosterbeek, now being used as a main dressing station. A day later he was moved to a house opposite as the number of casualties increased. Because the aid stations were in the front lines of the Oosterbeek perimeter, they came under constant fire and he was wounded twice more. A mortar round shell fragment lodged in his left foot, and a later hit caused splinter injuries to his face and shoulder. He narrowly avoided having his foot amputated when a nurse removed the splinter embedded in it with a pair of forceps, and once he had sufficiently recovered from his wounds he was taken to Stalag VII-A where he remained until the camp was liberated at the end of April 1945. In 1960 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and posted to Aldershot to command the Depot The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces during which time he established the Parachute Regiment Battle Camp at Brecon, which later evolved into the Infantry Battle School.

In late 1964, Waddy took up a new post as Colonel SAS, which later evolved into Director SAS (now Director Special Forces), resulting in his promotion to full colonel. He also wrote a paper envisaging counter-terrorism and intelligence gathering roles for the service, predictions that have since been realised.

After brief stints in Washington D.C. and Fort Benning as a liaison officer, Waddy was posted to the British Embassy in Saigon as a defence advisor in 1970. Here he was able to witness the Vietnam War first hand before returning to Britain in 1972 and joining the Joint Warfare Establishment at Old Sarum near Salisbury in Wiltshire. Waddy was responsible for training "Attenborough's Private Army", a group of fifty men who went through boot camp in order to portray Frost's men at Arnhem Bridge and provide the backbone of the extra cast. Waddy confessed to being deeply concerned by the actors' quality at first, but was able to turn them into men who looked and acted the part. Although there was little that Waddy or his fellow military consultants (who included Frost, Roy Urquhart, James M. Gavin, Brian Horrocks and J. O. E. Vandeleur) could do to greatly influence the film's script, he was able to ensure that some parts were kept historically accurate. By way of thanking him after receiving some advice, Edward Fox referred to his driver as Waddy in his first scene in the movie,

Along with many veterans, Waddy returned to Arnhem frequently. When visiting in 1954 he was presented with a damaged silver cigarette case bearing his surname. When he had it cleaned at home he discovered it was a present from his father to Colonel Hilaro Barlow, another 1st Airborne officer who was killed during the battle.

From 1982 to 1996 Waddy led talks for students of the Army Staff College on their battlefield tours at Arnhem, a role he reprised when the Defence Academy restarted the tours in 2008. He celebrated his birthday at his home in Taunton, with visits from the Parachute Regiment and the Deputy Defence Attaché from the embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, who presented Waddy with the Dutch Thank You Liberators Medaille. Waddy died in his sleep on 27 September 2020.