Theodore Bachenheimer

Canadian military officer Leo Heaps set the date of his arrival at Ebbens's farm (in company of Kettley) on 3 October, Bachenheimer and Baker were already there. Heaps dated his departure on 5 October, putting Kettley in charge of securing the property. Heaps's The Grey Goose of Arnhem, published in 1976, contradicts Neave's version of the story, published in 1969 as well as that of Baker published in 1946, casting some serious doubts on the entire chronology of events.

In April 1946, Bachenheimer's remains were recovered from Oldebroek General Cemetery "De Eekelenburg" and reburied at the U.S Military Cemetery at Neuville-en-Gondroz in Belgium. In April 1949, at the request of his mother, Bachenheimer's body was repatriated to the U.S and reburied in the Beth Olam Jewish Cemetery located at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Bachenheimer was featured in the Real Life comics issue n°25, published 1 September 1945, as the character of the G.I. General.

In action during Operation Market Garden, he landed near Grave, the Netherlands, on 17 September 1944. After successfully avoiding being captured by a band of German soldiers, he reorganized the Dutch underground organizations and went on to become the leader (with the underground rank of Major) of the Dutch resistance group in Nijmegen called K.P. (Knokploegen, or Fist-Fighters, part of the newly formed Netherlands Forces of the Interior, Prince Bernhard led as chief commander), where he gained the name of The G.I. General, his army was known as The Free Netherlands Army, a Battalion consisted of more than three hundred fighters. His partisans dubbed him Kommandant, Bachenheimers's HQ was set up in a steel factory situated in Groenestraat, south-west part of Nijmegen, by the end of September, Bachenheimer had moved his HQ to a primary school situated just south of the steel factory. Bachenheimer's seconds-in-command, two other paratroopers of the 504th , were known as Bill One (Willard M. Strunk of Abilene, Kansas) and Bill Two (Bill Zeller of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, killed in action, Apr 7, 1945). Bachenheimer's resistance group successfully gathered intelligence about the occupation forces and the information was then transmitted forward to the 82nd Airborne Division.

Dutch resistance leader, Christiaan Lindemans questioning at Camp 020, may give indirect evidences to support Heaps's claims. During his interrogation by MI-5 agents, Lindemans made mention of a trip he made to Eindhoven, returning the same evening, ordered by Prince Bernhard on 21 October 1944 to talk with Peter, leader of a resistance group in Eindhoven. Just like this Peter, Baker was the chief of a resistance group in the Netherlands and connected with Eindhoven. Lindemans acknowledged that he had given the name of Captain Baker to a FrontAufklärungsTruppe (FAT) on 15 September 1944 at the Abwehr station in Driebergen. There is a strong possibility that Bachenheimer and Baker's captures were the result of a German intelligence operation based on details supplied by Lindemans or the escape and near apprehension wearing civilian clothing during daytime hours by Leo Heaps.

On 14 June 1944, Bachenheimer was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action demonstrated during the fighting for Anzio, and on 7 January 1952 (by Royal Decree n°24, signed by her HRH Queen Juliana of the Netherlands), was awarded posthumously the Bronze Cross for distinguished and brave conduct against the enemy at Nijmegen.

Bachenheimer took part in Operation Husky, fought in the battles for Salerno and Anzio, where his bravery behind enemy lines made him a legend in the 82nd Airborne Division, earning him the nickname of The Legendary Paratrooper. From 1942 to 1944, Bachenheimer was the subject of articles in newspapers such as Star and Stripes, Collier's Weekly and the Los Angeles Times, and some of his exploits were broadcast in radio dispatches.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bachenheimer volunteered for military service (13 December 1941), and in May 1942 he was allocated to the 504th Infantry Regiment after successfully obtaining his parachuting certificate. In August 1942, he was transferred to Fort Bragg, North Carolina together with the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment which was attached to the 82nd Airborne Division. While the 504th was training at Fort Bragg, Bachenheimer, fluent in German, taught an intelligence class, where he would read out of a German infantry training manual. Bachenheimer was granted U.S. citizenship on 23 October 1942 by the United States district court of Atlanta, Georgia, his petition for naturalization described him as a 5 ft 10, 160 lbs white male with brown hair and brown eyes, ruddy complexion, exhibiting a small scar on the tip of the chin. On 23 March 1943, in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, he married Ethel Lou Murfield, whom he called Penny, from Fullerton, California who at the time was working for the Douglas Aircraft Company as a timekeeper.

Following Hitler's rise to power, the Bachenheimers moved, firstly to Prague and afterwards to Vienna, sometime in September 1934 they boarded the Majestic in Cherbourg, France, and sailed for America, arriving in New York City on 19 September and finally settled in California. Because of his family background, Bachenheimer registered aged 18 years old as an arts student at the Los Angeles City College with the intention of becoming an opera singer. Prior to his U.S army years, Bachenheimer worked briefly worked as a press agent for an ill-fated theatrical production.

Theodore Herman Bachenheimer a.k.a. Theodor Storm, (23 April 1923 – 22 October 1944), was an American soldier. In just three years, he achieved legendary status as one of the war's most daring reconnaissance scouts, he was better known as The Legendary Paratrooper or The G.I. General and was befriended by Martha Gellhorn.

Operation Windmill might have been used by the British Secret Intelligence Service as a justification for a Covert operation. In addition to Bachenheimer and Baker, the other boarders at Ebbens's house were a group of young Dutchmen, a Jewish family, a wounded British paratrooper, Staff-Sergeant Alan Kettley of the Glider Pilot Regiment and Canadian military officer, Lieutenant Leo Jack Heaps (1922-1995). Heaps would be involved with Operation Pegasus, he would be later raised to the rank of Captain and awarded the Military Cross, his son is Canadian politician, Adrian Heaps

Bachenheimer was born in Braunschweig, Germany, the eldest of two sons. His father Wilhelm, born in Frankenberg, Hesse, Germany (1892-1942), a former student at the Music Academy of Frankfurt and of German baritone nl:Eugen Hildach (1849-1924), was a musician, a singer and a lecturer of Jewish descent who served in the German Army during World War I (1914–16) and was once Musical Director of opera singer Maria Jeritza and voice teacher and coach of American actress Joan Blondell. His mother Katherina Boetticher (1899-1985) was an actress, his uncle and namesake (1888-1948), was a producer of light opera based in Hollywood, The Merry Widow and The Waltz King are among the works he either directed or produced. He also worked as an opera director for the California Opera Association; notably staging a production of Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles in June 1942 with Marilyn Cotlow as The Queen of the Night, George London as Papageno and Johnny Silver as Monostatos.