This is the first time we have come across this rare original L Detachment member signature. Steve Hastings is mentioned numerous times in David Stirling’s own biography ‘The Phantom Major’. He was one of the founder members of L Detachment which then became known as the SAS. In this 1994 1st edition he mentions what it was like to fight amongst David Stirling, Paddy Mayne, George Jellicoe, Mike Sadler and many others. The book is in very good condition and features an original pencil drawing portrait of Stephen Hastings by Steve Teasdale. The rare and genuine signature  of Hastings has been professionally mounted underneath the drawing. Also included is a compliments card from Hastings.
Commissioned in the Scots Guards from Royal Military College, Sandhurst in January 1940, with the service number of 112983, Hastings saw action against the Italians and Germans in the Western Desert, taking part in Operation Crusader, which relieved Tobruk and threw Rommel out of Cyrenaica.
After disagreements with his company commander he joined the SAS, and before El Alamein participated in a successful operation against an airfield, and a disastrous one against Benghazi, earning a Mention in Dispatches.