John Tadman was born on 1 April 1933 at Sunbury on Thames. He was educated at Hampton Grammar School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where he was a Junior Under Officer and carried the Sandhurst Colour in the Colour Party at the Coronation of HM The Queen.

John was commissioned into the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment (10th Foot) in 1953 and joined the 1st Battalion in Berlin. He became the Regimental Signals Officer in 1955 and moved with the Battalion to Malaya on active service. The four Rifle Companies, mainly consisting of National Servicemen, were all deployed on active operations in the jungle. John’s main task was to carry out a continuous number of cadres mainly centred on Morse, the only form of communication possible for Platoons in the jungle.

After completing his tour in Malaya he was seconded to the Army Air Corps (AAC). During this tour, and whilst serving again in Malaya in 1962, his Auster crashed in the jungle in North Malaya. This was due to engine failure. Fortunately a civilian aircraft heard his mayday call and saw the crash site in the jungle where the bamboo had caught fire. He was badly injured in the crash, burnt and with a fractured hip. SAS Patrols were sent out into the deep jungle to find him and eventually, after two days, these were successful.

He was in fact rescued by Major Peter Walter, who had been commissioned into the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment and had served with John in Malaya. After finding him it took a further four days for the jungle to be cleared and a landing zone established in order that a helicopter could land and take John out. He always counted himself a very fortunate man to have survived.

After completing his tour with the AAC John returned to his Regiment, now 2 East Anglian, in Osnabruck and from there, in 1965, to the Staff College at Camberley. After completing the staff course he was appointed to the prestigious position as the Army Representative and Instructor at the RAF College Cranwell. A period as a Rifle Company Commander in Osnabruck with 2 Royal Anglian followed. After a further staff appointment, this time in the MOD with the Adjutant General’s Branch, he was appointed Second in Command of 2 Royal Anglian commanded at that time by Lieutenant Colonel Akehurst. This was an exacting appointment as the Battalion was split between Felixstowe and on a six month emergency tour in Gibraltar.

The Battalion reformed and moved, in early in 1970, from Felixstowe to Colchester. John’s main role was to prepare the Battalion for exacting training exercises both in Kenya and at Brigade strategic level in Malaya. He could be well satisfied with all he achieved in this role as this was revealed in the performance of the Rifle Companies on the testing Brigade exercise in North Malaya After this period of Regimental duty John move to Singapore as the GSO1 Plans in the HQ ANZUK Force. An important Commonwealth appointment.

The highest point in any Infantry Officer’s career is to be selected to command a Battalion and over a great many years John had shown that he possessed the qualities necessary to train, lead and administer a Battalion. In 1975 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and assumed command of 5 Royal Anglian, a NATO roled Battalion, with companies spread throughout East Anglia and the East Midlands.

John was highly respected as a Commanding Officer and took great pains to know his Soldiers. He set, and attained, sound and lasting results in the development and training of Officers and Soldiers alike. All this was an extremely difficult task in every way with such a widespread Battalion of TA Soldiers. There is no doubt that John could look back on this period in command, and all he successfully achieved, with great pride.

After command John attended the National Defence College before assuming a senior planning appointment in SHAPE. Finally he was promoted to full Colonel and served as the Deputy Director Plans at HQ UKLF. He retired from the Army in January 1982.

John was a dedicated Soldier who always put the needs of his men first. He was modest in manner, highly motivated and calm under pressure. He was easily approachable with a quiet sense of humour and fun. John was able to look back over the many years encompassing his career with great satisfaction.

John married Corinna in 1961 and throughout his career he experienced the enduring support of his wife. Wherever his career took him, in various parts of the world, she quickly made a home for him and their family. During his career, and afterwards, John and Corinna always kept in close touch with their many friends in his parent Regiment, the 10th Foot.

He passed away on 10 March 2019.

It has been a great privilege for all the former Officers of the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment, now sadly few in number, and many others, to have known John and called him friend.

“A special friend is hard to lose and impossible to forget.”