He went on to hold a series of command posts with the Parachute Regiment, both at home and overseas, and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1963.

The brigade moved from Egypt to Palestine in February 1943, and to Tunisia in June where it joined the 1st Airborne Division, then commanded by Major General George Hopkinson.

In one action Waddy found an Italian 179mm Howitzer which he used to disperse Germans gathering to counterattack the 156th Battalion's positions, firing through open sights at a building in the centre of their front.

[8] Waddy was promoted to acting major in October and took charge of the 156th Battalion's B Company,[1][2] a month before the 1st Airborne Division was withdrawn and sailed back to the United Kingdom, arriving there in December.

The Allies planned to use airborne forces to secure key bridges over a number of rivers and canals in the Netherlands, opening a route around the Siegfried Line and into the heart of Germany.

[10] 1st Airborne Division was tasked with securing bridges across the Lower Rhine at Arnhem and 4th Parachute Brigade was detailed to occupy the northern approaches of the city in the event of a counterattack by German forces.

[12] In the event, ground mist in England meant that the second lift was delayed by four hours,[13] which spared the Dakota transport aircraft from meeting Luftwaffe fighters over the drop zone.

The sniper shot him in the groin and tried to hit him again as he started to crawl away, forcing Waddy to lie doggo for a moment before one of his men, a 6 foot 4 inches (1.93 m) tall Rhodesian soldier, carried him back to Company HQ.

[26] At the Regimental Aid Post, Waddy found that the doctors did not rate his chances particularly highly;[21] the 156 Battalion's war diary even recorded that "B Company commander was fatally wounded".

A mortar round shell fragment lodged in his left foot, and a later hit caused splinter injuries to his face and shoulder.

Once again the British patients were lectured about firing at the Red Cross after a Spitfire strafed the operating theatre,[21] but overall Waddy was impressed by the kindness of the German staff and guards.

[30] He narrowly avoided having his foot amputated when a nurse removed the splinter embedded in it with a pair of forceps,[31] and once he had sufficiently recovered from his wounds he was taken to Stalag VII-A where he remained until the camp was liberated at the end of April 1945.

[2] In July 1952, he was promoted to substantive major,[1] and two months later was posted to Malaya as a company commander with the 1st Battalion, The Somerset Light Infantry.

[2] Returning from Malaya, Waddy spent time at RAF Staff College and as a training major for the Somerset Light Infantry Territorial Army Battalion.

[37] After brief stints in Washington D.C. and Fort Benning as a liaison officer, Waddy was posted to the British Embassy in Saigon as a defence advisor in 1970.

Here he was able to witness the Vietnam War first hand before returning to Britain in 1972 and joining the Joint Warfare Establishment at Old Sarum near Salisbury in Wiltshire.

[2] When production of the movie A Bridge Too Far began in 1975, Waddy was given six months leave by Westland to act as chief Military Advisor, an appointment that John Frost thought was ideal.

[41] Although there was little that Waddy or his fellow military consultants (who included Frost, Roy Urquhart, James M. Gavin, Brian Horrocks and J. O. E. Vandeleur) could do to greatly influence the film's script, he was able to ensure that some parts were kept historically accurate.

[45] He celebrated his birthday at his home in Taunton, with visits from the Parachute Regiment and the Deputy Defence Attaché from the embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, who presented Waddy with the Dutch Thank You Liberators Medaille.