Today, the funeral of the last original soldier of the SAS was attended by Prince William.
Major Mike Sadler died at the age of 103. He made his way through the deserts of North Africa by following the stars.
The 41-year-old Prince of Wales went to Hereford Cathedral this morning for a service to remember Sadler.
He had a very interesting life and worked as a farmer, sailor, soldier, and spy.
After the D-Day landings, he parachuted into France. He worked for MI6 and an area of the Antarctic was named after him.
But his job as chief navigator for David Stirling, the founder of SAS, may have been his most famous job.
The early SAS launched their raids from huge, shifting sand dunes. During his service, Sadler, who was married twice and has a daughter named Sally, didn’t have GPS, satellites, or reliable landmarks.
He relied on the sun, the stars, and a way of measuring distance and direction called “dead reckoning.”
Five months after the SAS was formed, in December 1941, Sadler was part of the first successful raid on the Wadi Tamet airfield. With five other men, they destroyed 24 Axis warplanes and a fuel dump.
When the SAS was briefly broken up after the war, Sadler joined the Antarctic Survey and was given the Polar Medal. After that, he joined MI6.
Tom Glynn-Carney, 28, played him in the hit BBC show SAS Rogue Heroes.
They met on BBC’s “The One Show” in 2022, when the actor said it was hard to play a professional navigator on screen.
By that time, the war hero had lost his sight. He laughed and said, “It’s not that hard.”
Even though the Nazis caught him, he escaped, and had to walk across the dunes for four days, Sadler said, “I liked the desert.” I loved all the empty space.
Wills promised to “look after” the Princess of Wales when he went out in public for the first time since she told everyone about her cancer a month ago.
William helped load food into trucks and cook in the kitchen at Surplus to Supper, a charity in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey that gives food to people in need.
Rachel Candappa, 71, a volunteer, gave the Prince two get-well cards that were addressed to the King and Kate.
William, who seemed moved, said, “Thank you.” Thank you very much.
Wills put his left hand on Rachel’s shoulder and said, “I will” when she told him to take care of Kate.
