Gen. Sir Michael Wilkes CBE, OBE

"In 1977 he took command of 22 SAS at the age of 36. The regiment had been given a new role in counter-terrorism. The training instituted involved hostage situations, negotiations with those making demands, and assaults when it was judged that talks had broken down.


Under Wilkes’s leadership, the regiment became adept at responding rapidly to the different tactics employed by terrorists. He also set up a robust liaison system linking the SAS commander to the police, the security services and the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (Cobra).


In an increasingly turbulent world, other countries began to request help from Britain in developing their own specialised units to counter terrorism and to provide VIP protection.


Then, in October 1977, a Lufthansa Boeing 737 on its way from Majorca to Frankfurt with some 90 passengers and crew was hijacked by terrorists armed with guns and explosives. The Germans asked the SAS for help and Wilkes dispatched a small team to offer advice to GSG 9, their anti-terrorist squad.


The aircraft was stormed successfully at Mogadishu, Somalia, and the hostages freed. The operation gave added impetus to the expansion of training and organisation for anti-terrorist tasks by the regiment. Wilkes moved on in 1979, but the decisive intervention by the SAS in the Iranian Embassy siege in May the following year was convincing evidence of the value of his legacy.


The son of an Artillery officer, Michael John Wilkes was born at Steep, Hampshire, on June 11 1940 and educated at King’s School, Rochester, where he played rugby for the 1st XV. After attending RMA Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1960 and joined 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) the following year.
In 1962 he accompanied “G” Battery to Bahrain as part of 1 Parachute Battalion Group. Two years later, at short notice, he moved with them to the Kyrenia Pass, Cyprus, to join the UN Peacekeeping Force. In the brief interval between these deployments, he played rugby for the Army and for the RHA who won the Army Cup.
Wilkes then served with 22 SAS as a troop commander in North Borneo during the Indonesian “Confrontation” with Malaysia. Long range patrols, operating in dense jungle and usually lasting several weeks, carried out cross-border raids to find Indonesian supply lines and weapon dumps and to reconnoitre sites for ambushes."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10423352/General-Sir-Michael-Wilkes.html