Part of Maldon's proud Non-Conformist tradition is the stand taken by individuals when their faith was subjected to the ultimate test.

Stephen Knight, burned at the stake in 1555 and commemorated at Fullbridge is one such individual. But as recently as 1942 the son of one of Maldon's most famous families gave his life for his faith, on the other side of the world.

Alfred Sadd was born on 7th November 1909 to the famous Maldon timber merchant and boat building family. His father Henry Sadd died relatively young, leaving eight children brought up by his widow – but with support from other family members, who were very active in the local Congregational Church.

Sadd went on to study at the Leys School, Cambridge, aged fourteen, and although he was no great academic he ended up studying Theology at Cambridge. He had a long association with the Sea Scouts, and set up a troop in Cambridge. There is also a photograph of him wearing the badge of Maldon Sea Scouts. His interest will have stemmed from sailing on the Blackwater on the family yacht 'Ripple'.

He joined the London Missionary Society in 1934 and was posted to the Gilbert Islands, a chain of remote atolls and coral islands between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. Scouting was seen as an ideal missionary activity, and his love of the sea made this an ideal posting for him.

Sadd adopted a friendly, approachable style: his habitual greeting was, 'Hello I'm Sadd, but I'm not.' He turned his hand to everything: house building, scouting, boat repair, teaching and medical aid (he had a degree in Physiology).

After eight years in post Sadd was caught up in the war when the Japanese first attacked Pearl Harbor, then invaded Malaysia and the Philippines. He refused to be evacuated when the Europeans were urged to leave, and wrote to a friend that 'God has something bigger than this He intends me to do'. The war left him largely alone at first, though a bombing raid in February targeted the church. The Japanese finally came in August 1942, frightening the local population with bayonets. An account published in 1944 records that Alfred Sadd came along on his bicycle and refused to ride it over a Union Jack flag spread out in his path. Sadd was taken before an officer, annoying his guards by his long stride which left them behind. Again he was commanded to tread on a flag, but instead picked it up and kissed it. Taken aback by this, the Japanese had him sent to Tarawa with other prisoners to carry out hard labour. Though described as civilians in some accounts, ten of the prisoners were in fact soldiers, and another seven were Post and Telegraph Department radio operators. All had been designated as Coastwatchers, left to monitor Japanese advances. Just five, including Sadd, were civilians. Following an American air raid, the Japanese authorities decided to execute all the prisoners in reprisal. At this point, the account relates, Sadd spoke 'words of good cheer' to his fellow prisoners, and stepped to the front to be first to be beheaded. It was 15th October 1942 and Alfred Sadd was just 33. His family was left with poignant memories of his last visit home to Maldon, a six-month furlough he spent in 1938. His sacrifice, and that of the other victims, is commemorated by a memorial at Beito in Tarawa.