Michael Dauncey


Michael Donald Keen Dauncey, DSO, DL was a British Army officer who participated in Operation Market Garden during the Second World War.

Market Garden

On the first day of the operation, 17 September 1944, Dauncey flew a Horsa glider into Arnhem. Several days of fighting ensued, during which he sustained eye injuries. Despite being blinded in one eye, he fought on, but was taken prisoner. With another officer he escaped from a Dutch hospital on a rope of knotted sheets and hid in the Utrecht English Parsonage for four months. He was later awarded the Distinguished Service Order for bravery shown during this battle.

Later life

After a number of appointments he was made Colonel of the Cheshire Regiment in 1978.
In retirement he lived in Uley, Gloucestershire, with his wife Marjorie. He died on 23 August 2017 aged 97.