?I make no claim to heroism, nor will my nature ever amount to that of a hero. I wish only to present as what I was, a human being in a human situation; a very young and immature human being faced with and perplexed by fears, idealistic conceptions of courage, dread of shame at being judged as less than one's peers, and that obsessive adolescent yearning to prove oneself a ?Man,? ?..Godfrey Freeman This is the remarkable true story of a young army glider pilot's experience of the last days in the defence of Arnhem Bridge, his eventual capture and then escape to be adopted by the Resistance, the hair-raising journey through occupied Europe and his eventual return to the UK. After capture Freeman was first taken to Apeldoorn where he was hospitalized, claiming shell shock. Although quite sane, he feigned trauma with escape in mind, until being punished for aiding the escape of four Allied inmates. Then he was put on a train bound for Germany, from this he escaped and eventually made contact with the Dutch underground. He is given civilian clothes and a bicycle and rides overnight to Barnveld where he stays with a schoolmaster and church organist. Then another cycle ride to a farm where he sleeps in the hayloft and finally still on his bike, he rides through the German front lines. He eventually is returned to RAF Broadwell by Dakota to resume his part in the war, from capture to freedom within a month. The text is interspersed with flashbacks to the author's childhood and early training, capturing the true spirit of a typical modest and yet outstandingly brave young man of the wartime era. AUTHOR: Written by Godfrey John Freeman, born 4th June 1924 in Hook Norton, Oxfordshire; Died 9th January 1999 peacefully in The Churchill Hospital, Oxford, Leaving his two sons Mark and Karl and their mother, his former wife, Sheila Freeman. ILLUSTRATIONS 15 b/w photographs
