"Our greeeting was 'Šťastné přistání' - 'Happy landing.' Because the success of the mission as a whole depended on the landing."
Ján Bačík was born on the 25th of January 1917, in Slovakia. In 1939 he passed through Poland in to France, where he was accepted into the Foreign Legion. During 1940 he fought on the French front. After France's defeat, he escaped via Gibraltar to Britain. He underwent paratrooper training, but never deployed, as the planned drop in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was canceled. He was transfered to a tank unit. Starting October 1944, he fought at the seige of Dunkirk as a platoon sergeant for the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade. He was released from service in October 1945. In 1946 he was accepted into the SNB (National Security Corps), in various capacities in the South Bohemia Region. He joined the Czech Communist Party in 1948. He lives in Třeboň, where he moved to in 1954. In 1998 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (ret.).
