In May 1980, McAleese famously led the UK's elite SAS (Special Air Services) team in "Operation Nimrod" when they stormed the Iranian Embassy in London and ended the 6-day/129-hour hostage siege, an operation that was televised all over the world.
His son Paul McAleese was killed in Afghanistan in 2009.
Before joining the SAS He was a member of the Royal engineers.
He was arrested just four days after attending his son's funeral in September 2009.