Hackett, John Winthrop “Shan”, born Perth, 05-11-1910, the son of John Winthrop Hackett (1848-1916)
an Australian Judge and newspaper owner and Deborah Vernon Drake-Brockman (1887-1965).
.His grandfather John Winthrop Hackett was a minister in Ireland. His father John Winthrop Hackett (1848-1916) studied at Trinity College, he emigrated to Australia in 1875 and became a politician and owner of several newspapers. His wife, who he married in 1942, Lady Deborah Hackett, was a director of several mines.
John had four sisters. Dr Verna Hackett Kendall (1906–1987), Joanna Hackett (1908–1966), Patricia Hackett (1908–1963) and Mrs Deborah Winthrop Hackett Knox ( 1913–1983)
General Hackett was called “Shan”. John had been educated in Victoria, studied painting in London and then history at Oxford University. The results of his studies were mediocre, not enough to build a career. He joined the army. In 1933 he was posted to the Irish Hussars (8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars).
.John served in the Palestine Mandate and received a Mention of Honour in 1936. From 1937 to 1941 he was stationed at the Jordanian border, where he also received two Mentions of Honour.
During the war Hackett served in the British army. First in the Syria-Lebanon campaign, where he was wounded and awarded the Military Cross.
In North Africa he was wounded again when his M3-M5 Stuart tank
was hit during a battle at Sidi Rezegh airfield.
For this he was awarded the Order of Distinguished Service (DSO).
He was taken to Cairo to recuperate.
In 1944 Hackett was in command of the 4th British Parachute Brigade during Operation Market Garden. Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation during the Second World War fought in the German-occupied Netherlands from 17 to 25 September 1944. Its objective was to create a 64 mi (103 km) salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the Nederrijn (Lower Rhine River), creating an Allied invasion route into northern Germany. This was to be achieved by two sub-operations: seizing nine bridges with combined US and British airborne forces (“Market”) followed by British land forces swiftly following over the bridges (“Garden”).
They landed on the Ginkelse Heide on 18-09-1944. There too he was seriously wounded, this time in the stomach. He was admitted to the Elisabeths Gasthuis
in Arnhem and survived thanks to operations performed by the Captain and a famous orthopaeduic surgeon, doctor in Arnhem 1944 “Bridge too far” Alexander Lipmann “Lippy” Kessel.
After ten days he was kidnapped from there by resistance fighter Pieter Kruijff
and went into hiding. He was cared for for four months by the De Nooij family in Ede. Hackett was taken to Ede, where for months, he was looked after by the three sisters Mien, Cor and Anna de Nooij at Torenstraat 5.
Hackett rested a lot and learned Dutch. The resistance arranged a forged personal identity card for Hackett, who was now known as Van Dalen and received a button for his jacket stating that he was deaf and dumb, so he wouldn’t have to speak.
When he had recovered sufficiently, he cycled through the snow to Sliedrecht with Johannes Martines “Johan” Snoek, born as the second child of Govert Snoek and Maria de Nooij, on 30-01-1945. With a false identity card, he was taken by line-crossers via the Biesbosch to liberated Netherlands as Mr. Van Dalen. He arrived in Lage Zwaluwe on 5 February and was with his wife again two days later. Johan Snoek survived the war and at the old age of 92 he died in Rotterdam, on 31-08-2012. When Hackett was back in England in the evening the code message ‘The goose has flown’ was spoken during the Dutch broadcast of the BBC. For his actions during the Battle of Arnhem he was awarded a second Distinguished Service Order on 24-05-1945 and followed by a fifth ‘Mentioned in Despatches’ on 20 September of that year. He wrote a book about his experiences during and after the Battle of Arnhem in 1977, entitled ‘I Was a Stranger’, which was published in Dutch two years later under the title ‘Ik ben een vreemdeling geweest’..



In 1947 Hackett went to Palestine. He was in command of the border troops that had to withdraw from the region. After several promotions (1951 Major General, 1961 Lieutenant General) he became Chief of the General Staff, a job in which he had to reorganize the army, which was not appreciated by many. Nevertheless, he was appointed General in 1965. He became commander of the British Army of the Rhine until 1968. In 1968, at the age of 58, he left the army and was appointed Principal of King’s College, London.
Deatyh and burial ground of Hackett, John Winthrop “Shan”.




After retiring, he was principal of King’s College London from 1968 to 1975. Since then he has lectured and written books. John Hackett was the last living General of the Battle of Arnhem. He died 09-09-1997 in Cheltenham at the age of 87 at his country house. He had suffered a heart attack nine months earlier, from which he had not fully recovered. His wife lived longer, their daughter having died earlier. They had also adopted two girls
Hackett, John Winthrop “Shan”. is buried at the Karrakatta Cemetery and Crematorium in Karrakatta, Nedlands City, Western Australia, Australia.


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