Bidspirit auction | John Hackett DSO signed Airborne

John Hackett DSO signed Airborne Forces WW2 Cover Market Garden Battle Arnhem. 9 May 92 BFPS 2326 - 50th Anniv. Glider Pilot Regt. Personally Signed by General Sir John Hackett G. C. B. , CBE. , D. S. O. , M. C. when he took part in the disastrous parachute landing on Arnhem in Holland, where the Germans were waiting. On the day before the survivors of the 1st Airborne Division were pulled out of Arnhem, Hackett was severely injured internally by a shell splinter. He was taken to a German military hospital and operated on by a captured Allied surgeon, but was regarded as a hopeless case and marked down for kindly hypodermic euthanasia. On the first day he sat up to eat, a member of the Resistance told him that unless he could walk out in the next 15 minutes, he might not be able to get out at all. He escaped with his head in blood-soaked bandages to suggest a civilian air-raid casualty, and was hidden by a Dutch family at risk to their lives. Later, he escaped by bicycle to freedom, his skill at languages enabling him to pass challenges from guards en route. Enclosed detailed inserts cards. Certified Copy Signed on back by WW2 Escaper Bill Randle DFM