Otway, Terence Brandram Hastings

Atlantic Wall

Date of birth:: June 15th, 1914 (Cairo, Egypt)
Date of death:: July 23rd, 2006 (Tadworth/Surrey, Great Britain)
Nationality:: British

Biography

Terence Otway was educated at Dover College and RMC Sandhurst and commissioned into the Royal Ulster Rifles (RUR) in 1934. He served with the 1st battalion in Hong Kong, Shanghai and India before returning to England in 1940, by which time he was adjutant of the battalion.
He took command of the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron about the time 1st RUR converted to the glider-borne air-landing role. After attending the Staff College, Camberley, he returned to 1st RUR before being appointed first second-in-command and then commanding officer of the 9th Battalion The Parachute Regiment in March 1944.
On D-Day, the 9th were dropped in the night before to secure vital objectives, particularly to neutralise the Merville Gun Battery.
In spite of severe problems in the landing, his battalion took the Merville Battery. Otway started with about 750 men, few of whom had seen action before; of the 150 who took part in the attack, 65 had been either killed or wounded by the end of the action, which saved a great many Allied lives.
His numerically weak and all but exhausted battalion then pushed into Le Plein, where they encountered stiffening resistance and, despite their depleted numbers, took Château St Come on the ridge, and succeeded in beating off two enemy attacks, each of several hours duration, by a regiment of 21st Panzer Division.
Two days later, while making a routine tour of his positions, a stray shell landed close to Otway. He was diagnosed with severe concussion and subsequently evacuated to hospital in Cardiff, then graded unfit for a return to active service, and was posted as a Staff Officer to the War Office.
In May 1945, he was sent to India to take over command of the 1st/5th King's Regiment with the intention of converting them into the 15th Parachute Battalion for actions against the Japanese in Burma.
In September 1945, Otway was made Chief of Staff to the 2nd Indian Airborne Division and served with our other Famous Face Lt John Wood.
Otway became very disolutioned with the Army after the war, and in January 1948 he resigned his commission. He then became Assistant General Manager, to the Gambia, at the Colonial Development Corporation, and a year later he served as General Manager to Nyasaland.
In June 1949 his health deteriorated and he was returned to the UK.
In the years that followed, Otway became involved in numerous enterprises, from the selling of life insurance to newspaper management. He was once Managing Director of The Empire Newspaper.
In his retirement he worked very hard for the rights of all servicemen and war widows and wrote many articles on the history of the Parachute Regiment and his actions at Merville Battery.
A bronze buste of Otway was unveiled in his presence at the Merville Battery on June 7th, 1997.

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Distinguished Service Order (DSO)

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Captain (temporary Major)
Unit:: The Royal Ulster Rifles (Kew)
Awarded on:: October 19th, 1944

Citation:
"For conspicuous bravery and outstanding leadership. This officer led 150 men of his bataljon on the successful attack of the Sallenelles battery. He personally directed the attack and organised the successful cleaning up of the enemy strong points under heavy enemy mortar and machine gun fire. He led the attack on and successfully held Le Plein until relieved by another formation. On arrival in the Le Mesnil area he succeeded in beating off two major enemy attacks of several hours duration by his magnificent leadership of his numerically very weak and tired bataljon. His utter disregard of personal danger has been an inspiration for all his men."