Lieutenant Colonel Terence Brandram Hastings Otway DSO, (15 June 1914 – 23 July 2006) was an officer in the British Army, best known for his role as commander of the paratroop assault on the Merville Battery on D-Day.

Otway was born in Cairo, Egypt, on 15 June 1914 at the American Hospital, he returned with the family to England in 1915, where he stayed while his father served in France.

Although this gave him eligibility to join the Indian Army, he chose the British and, in August 1934, was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles, based at Gravesend.

In August 1937 he was promoted to lieutenant and rejoined the battalion who were posted to Shanghai as part of the international force sent to protect the settlement from the Japanese who had invaded China.

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.

Otway was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in October 1944 for his outstanding leadership in the actions at Merville and Le Plein.

After a brief period with Outward Bound, Otway joined Scotia Investments Ltd., a public company in the Leisure field, as Administrative Controller in 1966.

In 1975, he sensed an impending scandal over misuse of funds and resigned, joining the London Chamber of Commerce with responsibility for membership.

During retirement, he continued to remain active particularly in areas relating to the welfare of soldiers and their widows, as well as historical aspects of The Parachute Regiment, especially in respect of monuments in Normandy, France.

In 1991, aged 76, he still had the energy to take up the cases of three guardsmen seriously injured during a training exercise in Canada, publicising the issue and successfully putting pressure on the Government for adequate compensation for the men.

In 1995, his health and energy undiminished, he was still pruning branches, perched on a ladder, from a tree in the garden of his home in Tadworth, Surrey, to some consternation of his third wife Jeannie.

He was also involved on the fringes in the case for the release of Lee Clegg, a paratrooper imprisoned for murder after a shooting in Northern Ireland at the time of the troubles.

The citizens of Merville-Franceville-Plage in Normandy, France, decided to honour Otway by the placing of a bust depicting him at the age of 29 at the time of D-Day and the assault on the battery.

This was unveiled in the grounds of the Merville Battery Museum on 7 June 1997 by himself, Raymond Triboulet, a leader of the French Resistance during the war, and Olivier Paz, the Mayor.