Sydney Valpy Radley-Walters

Sydney Valpy Radley-Walters CMM, DSO, MC, CD, nicknamed "Rad" (January 11, 1920 – April 21, 2015), was a tank commander in the Canadian Army. Credited with 18 German tanks and many other armoured vehicles, he was the leading Western Allies' tank ace of the Second World War. Radley-Walters commanded a tank squadron in the regiment. His unit may have killed "tank ace" Michael Wittmann of the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion, though there is no definitive proof. This claim has been disputed by 3 Troop, A Squadron, 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry tank regiment gunner Joe Ekins, who also claims to have killed Wittmann. The investigative TV program Battlefield Mysteries investigated the competing claims and concluded that, based on the measured ranges and location of the strike on Wittman's tank, one of the Sherbrooke tanks was probably responsible. Their position was 150m from Wittman, and on the same side as the strike. The Northamptonshire tanks were over a kilometer away and on the opposite side. However the show has been criticized by historians for its lack of evidence to prove its conclusions, it is based largely on the postulations put forward by Canadian author Brian Reid in 2005. There are also significant discrepancies with the 1985 investigation conducted by After the Battle publication, which was based largely on the detailed account of the battle recorded in the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry War Diary and eye witness accounts.

Radley-Walters was awarded both the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross and for his outstanding leadership and gallantry as a squadron commander. He had three tanks destroyed while he was in command of them and was wounded twice. By the end of the war, he was the top tank ace, the ace of aces of the western Allies (and therefore, of Canada), with a total of 18 tank kills and many other armoured vehicles. He died on April 21, 2015.

In 2004, in recognition of Rad's extraordinary contribution to the liberation, the town of Buron in Normandy, France renamed a small municipal park in his honour. Parc Radley Walters on the south side of rue des Arromanches, near the five-way intersection of rue Colleville Montgomery, rue de la Liberation and rue de la delle de Renaud. There is a commemorative plaque, benches and several shade trees.