ERNEST CHARLES ROLAND BARKER enlisted as a Boy soldier in 1934, going on to serve in the Western Desert and in Greece in 1941. As a Sergeant in the Royal Corps of Signals, Barker was assigned to the Special Operations Executive and underwent parachute training. After the war Barker opted to remain in the Army, at which point he took a commission. Promoted to Major, Barker became the Officer Commanding 22 SAS in Malaya. He was killed in a helicopter crash in Malaya in 1953, before he could see through his plan to have his memoir published.