Pictured here after a set of practice jumps over Frankfurt in Germany sometime around April 1945, paratrooper Harry Hudec of the 82nd Airborne can be seen pictured aged 23 at the time. Hudec was a seasoned parachutist, having partook in all combat jumps on the Western Front from the invasion of Normandy all the way through the engagements during Operation Market Garden.
A regimental boxing champion, he wasn’t unaware of injury. Having been injured during the Invasion of Normandy, Harry was nursed back to health by a French family, who hid him from German capture before he hobbled back to friendly lines. After the war, Harry lost contact with this family, only reconnecting during a visit to Normandy on the 60th Anniversary of D-Day in 2004. He remained friends with them all the way until his death in 2007 at the age of 85.