18/11/2025
Mike Sadler one of the original 15 (great book)
Before joining the SAS, Sadler was a navigator with the Long Range Desert Group, a man so gifted at reading the desert that he could guide patrols across hundreds of miles of empty sand using nothing but stars and instinct. That talent caught the eye of David Stirling — and soon Sadler was “co-opted” into the brand-new SAS alongside giants like Paddy Mayne.
While Stirling and Mayne led the attacks, Sadler led them there.
His navigation made the earliest SAS raids possible — deep strikes against enemy airfields and supply lines that helped turn the tide in North Africa.
He later fought in Italy and France, guiding missions behind enemy lines, earning both the Military Medal and the Military Cross, and eventually being named a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur.
Yet despite all of it, Sadler lived quietly. Humble. Soft-spoken. A man who never sought fame, though history will never forget him.
With his passing, the last of the original SAS is gone — but the spirit he embodied remains: courage without ego, brilliance without bravado, and the quiet conviction that Who Dares Wins.
