Barry Davies (British Army soldier)

Barry Davies
BEM
Born (1944-11-22)November 22, 1944
Wem, Shropshire, UK
Died August 4, 2016(2016-08-04) (aged 71)
Spain
Service/branch British Army
Years of service 1962-1985

Barry Davies, BEM (22 November 1944 – 18 April 2016) was a British Army infantry soldier who served with the Welsh Guards and the Special Air Service regiments. He was later a published author, and worked in television production.

Early life

Davies was born on the 22 November 1944 during World War 2, in Wem, in the county of Shropshire, where his father was a farmer.[1]

Military career

In 1962 at the age of 18 he enlisted with the British Army's Welsh Guards, which he served with for 4 years.[2] At the age of 22 he applied to join the Special Air Service Regiment, and having passed its selection course was transferred into it, and went on to have an extensive career with its squadrons for almost 20 years around the world, including in service in Ulster during Operation Banner, Oman, Malaya, Africa and Latin America.[3]

In 1977 he took part in an anti-terrorist operation to rescue 91 passengers of Lufthansa Flight 181 after the aeroplane had been hijacked at Mogadishu airport. Davies had originally been sent to the scene to act as an observer and advisor, but once there ended up taking part in the armed assault on the plane to free the hostages, for which he was awarded the British Empire Medal.[4][5][2][3]

Post-military career

Davies retired from the British Army in 1985, and found employment as a consultant and product development and sales executive with the Cardiff based B.C.B. International, Ltd., a military, police and survival equipment manufacturer.[3]

He became an author, publishing over 35 books on the Special Air Service Regiment, and survival guides, including Fire Magic: Hijack to Mogadishu (1994), Heroes of the S.A.S. (2000), The Complete Encyclopedia of the SAS (1998), The S.A.S. Self-defence Handbook (2011), The Complete S.A.S. Survival Manual (2011) and S.A.S. Desert Survival (2001).[3]

Davies also acted occasionally as an advisor to British television productions based upon Special Forces' soldiering in the 1990s and early 2000s, including the television documentary The Widow, the Terrorist & the S.A.S. (1996),[6] S.A.S. Survival Guide: Escape, Evasion & Survival (1999),[7] SAS: Are You Tough Enough? (2002–04), and 'Spymaster' (2004).[8]

Personal life

Davies married four times and was the father of two children, a son and daughter from his second marriage.[3]

Death

Davies died on 18 April 2016 in his 71st year from a heart attack in Valencia in Spain, where he had resided since the late 1990s.[2][3]

References

  1. ↑ 'Tribute to former S.A.S. soldier who helped save stricken air passengers', Wales Online', 18 May 2016. http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/tributes-former-sas-soldier-who-113r6289
  2. 1 2 3 MacAskill, Ewan (19 April 2016). "Barry Davies, legendary SAS figure, dies aged 71". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Barry Davies, SAS soldier – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  4. ↑ "Barry Davies". The Times. 26 April 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016. (Subscription required (help)).
  5. ↑ "R.I.P ~ SERGEANT MAJOR BARRY DAVIES BEM". Combat + Survival. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  6. ↑ Entry in IMDb. https://www.imdb.com//title/tt6370188/?ref_=nm_flmg_slf_1
  7. ↑ A film produced by 'B.C.B. International, Ltd.' British Board of Film Classification entry: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/sas-escape-evasion-survival-1970
  8. ↑ Entry for 'Spymaster' in IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1783306?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm
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