Ely-born Reg Seekings – a highly-decorated Special Forces soldiers of World War Two – has wartime feats highlighted in book written by Tony Rushmer

A book by a local author about SAS ‘Original’ Reg Seekings – born just outside Ely – is set to be released today.

Seekings volunteered to join the newly-formed Special Air Service in the summer of 1941. He rose through the ranks to secure squadron sergeant major status, becoming one of the most highly-decorated Special Forces soldiers of World War Two.

In the mid-1950s he returned to Africa to live before spending his retirement years near Bury St Edmunds in the west Suffolk village of Stanton, where he died in 1999.

Seekings’ name reached a wider audience when his character was depicted by the BBC 1 series SAS Rogue Heroes, which dramatised the early days of the SAS.

And now his wartime feats receive the spotlight treatment in Ely resident Tony Rushmer’s new book.

SAS Duty Before Glory, The True WWII Story of SAS Original Reg Seekings reveals how the son of a Great War veteran emerged from the Fen fields to fight in North Africa with an unconventional unit founded and commanded by David Stirling.

Seekings’ initiative and courage in the Western Desert campaign earned him a Distinguished Conduct Medal. And after the Allies’ focus switched to Europe, the Cambridgeshire man received a Military Medal for his actions in the 1943 Operation Husky invasion of Sicily.

A year later, just days after the Normandy landings, Seekings parachuted by night into German-occupied France. During the mission he was shot in the head, but recovered to carry on behind-the-lines activities, despite a bullet remaining lodged at the base of his skull.

In the early spring of 1945, an Allied offensive penetrated into the Rhineland and once again the SAS were in the vanguard. As so often, Seekings was to the fore and was part of a jeep patrol that helped liberate Belsen in the middle of April.

The German surrender came the following month and Seekings returned from the war to marry his sweetheart Monica Smith in Stanton village church.

Rushmer, whose last book about champion racehorse trainer Sir Henry Cecil was selected as one of three finalists in a US competition, said: “Reg Seekings’ story kept me fascinated from the moment I discovered it during the first Covid lockdown.

“I was channel-hopping when I came across an SAS documentary in which he appeared in some archive footage. I was struck immediately by the strength of his character – the way he spoke, his bearing. There was just something about him.

“Also, there was his accent. He sounded very familiar. A quick bit of research showed that he was born and raised a couple of miles away from where I was watching the documentary. I knew that I had to find out more and it wasn’t long before I committed to writing a book about Seekings.

“The whole process has been incredibly rewarding. I soon found out that Reg’s brother Bob was in the SAS too – as was their great mate from Soham, Eric Musk. I also got to meet on many occasions SAS legend Mike Sadler, who navigated a six-man party, including Seekings, for the nascent unit’s very first successful operation in December, 1941.

“Mike was a great help in writing the book, as were members of the Seekings family, the SAS Regimental Association and many others whose support has been invaluable in chronicling Seekings’ incredible story.”

Rushmer will be giving a series of talks this autumn to promote his new book and will speak at an event organised by Toppings booksellers on Thursday, October 17 from 7pm.

SAS Duty Before Glory: The True WWII Story of SAS Original Reg Seekings is published by Michael O’Mara Books.