John Wiseman, MC (27 January 1916 – 23 August 2005) was a British Army officer and Second World War Special Air Service (SAS) veteran, where he saw action in the long range desert raiding parties of the North African Campaign, then in front line support of the invasion of Sicily and Italy during which he was awarded the Military Cross, followed by commando operations deep behind German lines following the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
Wiseman saw action across North Africa in SAS / Long Range Desert Group joint operations raiding Axis airfields and transport/communications infrastructure.
Wiseman earned his Military Cross in action in the Allied invasion of Sicily, as commander of a section in the Special Raiding Squadron (SRS) under Paddy Mayne.
Wiseman's unit scaled the cliffs of Cape Murro di Porco on the morning of 10 July 1943, in order to assault a coastal battery defending the beaches to be landed by the main Allied force.
[1] The shell, probably a stray shot, had caused the single biggest loss of the SAS, and had likely been exacerbated by the fact many of the men had been carrying armed Hawkins grenades as they had been about to depart to shore up a defensive line.