Allegiance United Kingdom Died November 3, 1995 Years of service 1941 - 1973 Service/branch British Army | Rank Brigadier Name Mike Gray | |
Battles/wars World War II
Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
Aden Emergency Awards Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Military Cross & Bar Education Wellington College, Berkshire Battles and wars World War II, Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, Aden Emergency | ||
Commands held Special Air Service | ||
Brigadier Walter Michael "Mike" Wingate Gray OBE MC & Bar (17 July 1921 – 3 November 1995) was a British Army officer who became Commander SAS.
Military career
Educated at Wellington College, Wingate Gray was commissioned into the Black Watch in February 1941 during World War II. After serving in North Africa, he took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 for which he was awarded the MC, and then the Normandy landings in Summer 1944 for which he was awarded a bar to his MC. He was appointed Commanding Officer of 22 Special Air Service Regiment in 1964 and was deployed to Borneo during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation and then to Aden during the Aden Emergency before becoming Commander SAS Group as a colonel in 1967. Promoted to Brigadier, he went on to be Deputy Commander, Gibraltar in 1969 and then military attaché in Paris in December 1971 before retiring in 1973.