Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

Roderick Ferguson Semple (26 January 1922 – 31 July 2003) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer who became Director SAS.

Military career

Educated at

Aberdeen Grammar School Aberdeen Grammar School is a state secondary school in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of thirteen secondary schools run by the Aberdeen City Council educational department. It is the oldest school in the city and one of the oldest grammar school ...

and

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

, Semple was commissioned into the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

in 1942. He served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

with the 6th Airborne Divisional Engineers creating Glider Landing Zones in the Airborne landings in Normandy in June 1944. He received the MC for this. He went on to be Chief of Staff for

16 Parachute Brigade The 16th Parachute Brigade was an airborne forces brigade of the British Army. It can trace its formation to February 1948, when the 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade left the 6th Airborne Division and moved to Germany, becoming part of the Br ...

before becoming

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of 131 Parachute Engineer Regiment. He was appointed Director SAS in 1969 before retiring in 1972. In retirement he became Director-General of Administration in the

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

i Department of Defence and a member of the

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

's National Defence Council. The Airborne Engineers Association still holds an annual ''Fergie Semple Golf Competition'' in his honour.Airborne Engineers Association
/ref>

Family

He was married to Olivia; there were no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Semple, Fergie 1922 births 2003 deaths People educated at Aberdeen Grammar School Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Royal Engineers officers Members of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Military Cross Special Air Service officers British Army personnel of World War II British Army brigadiers