24. The Gestapo Disbelieved This Airman’s Miraculous Escape Story, Until They Found Proof
Nicholas Alkemade’s guardian angel was especially attentive on the night when the British airman jumped without a parachute into the night sky from a height of more than three miles. He fell into a stand of pine trees, then onto soft snow that covered the ground. Trees and snow broke and cushioned his fall. A stunned Alkemade discovered that he was alive, that he could move all of his limbs, that nothing was broken, and that the only injury he had suffered was a strained leg.
Sergeant Alkemade was captured and interrogated by the Gestapo. The Nazi secret police disbelieved his claims until they found and investigated his bomber’s wreckage. Alkemade spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp, where his miraculous escape story made him a minor celebrity. After the war, he worked in the chemical industry and was featured on Just Amazing, a British TV series about people who pulled off exceptional and extraordinary feats or survived against incredible odds.