General Hackett goes into hiding in Ede

However, the Germans have no idea they have captured a British general. After Hackett is operated on, the general is secretly taken from the hospital with the help of the Dutch resistance. Hackett is transferred to Ede, where the three sisters Mien, Cor, and Anna de Nooij care for him on Torenstraat for five months. He rests a lot and learns Dutch. From the resistance, Hackett receives a false identity card. From now on, he uses the false name Van Dalen and wears a badge indicating he is deaf and dumb to avoid speaking in public.

The house adjoins the garden of a house on Grotestraat where a detachment of the German Feldgendarmerie (Military Police) is stationed. In that garden, the Germans keep a large goose. Hackett wants to seize the goose for Christmas, but the sisters manage to talk him out of this plan. However, the goose continues to occupy Hackett's mind—and keeps him awake with its loud honking.

The plans to bring Hackett to his own troops in the liberated south of the Netherlands initially fail. Then Johan Snoek (a member of the De Nooij family) decides to use a well-known escape route through the waterways of the Biesbosch. The route to the Biesbosch will have to be covered by bike. During a first cycling exercise near Torenstraat, Hackett slips on the slippery, snow-covered road. He does not respond to questions from concerned citizens and German soldiers, pointing to his 'I am deaf' badge.

On Tuesday, January 30, 1945, Hackett thanks his benefactors for all their kindness and departs with Johan Snoek through cold and snow. They arrive in Sliedrecht on Monday, February 5, 1945. That same night, members of the resistance row with Hackett through the Biesbosch to Lage Zwaluwe, on the Allied side of the Merwede. On Wednesday, February 7, the remaining people in Ede hear the code message "The Grey Goose has departed" on Radio Oranje. They now know one thing for sure: General Hackett is safely back in Great Britain.

Today, there is a road named after General Hackett, the Generaal Hackettlaan in Ede.