SAS WAR DIARY 1941-45

By Extraordinary Editions.

My Veterans’ Edition number 94 (the year I left 22 SAS Regt)

Having been given the honour to join 22 SAS Regiment in the mid 1970s, I was able to meet and talk from time to time with many of the originals from the birth of the SAS back in the 1940s.

Those men were as humble as you will get given all that they had done. Some had gone on to the second phase of the SAS, after being disbanded at the end of WW2, it was soon “reborn” to explore and execute operations in the jungles of the Far East.

With these great soldiers almost all gone now, I decided to purchase a limited edition copy of the Veterans’ Edition.

I chose this edition as it’s signed by Joe Schofield, a man who I got to know when he was a retired Admin Officer at Bradbury Lines, Hereford…at the time the home of 22 SAS Regiment.

I was scratching my old head for months to decide on which edition I would buy. I was caught between the Navigator’s Edition and this one. Navigation was one of my favourite skills within 22 SAS versus the fact that I’d personally got to know Joe Schofield.

As Joe had spent the most time in the SAS in it’s history…his signed edition won the day eventually.

Going through the diary and it’s amazing original paperwork, I can hear the old fellas (many were younger at the time of meeting them than I am now!) reminiscing on their past exploits. In the diary it’s all there as it was back in the 40s, it’s not been embellished by media or historians…it’s raw, it’s in black and white…and it’s true. I’ve read many books on the SAS during my own time, only to put those books down as they were either greatly embellished or untrue.

You can Google the SAS War Diary, it’s massive and it’s heavy…and it’s certainly not cheap…but for someone like me, it’s worth every penny.

Like any unit in the British military, the SAS also moves forward and the individuals wearing the Winged Dagger change over the decades…that’s because they have to. But I’ll always be proud of being taught by those before me, and for having the chance to teach those who came after me during my time in the Regiment.

This diary is indeed very special, the story alone of how the original came about and survived for so many decades is a book and a film alone. It’s all out there online.

I know one or two lads of my era who have a copy, and I can understand just why they paid good money to get one.

Here’s to “Joe the Scho,” a man who spent 45 years in the Special Air Service, was wounded and saved by none other than Paddy Maine…and to every member of the Originals.