Michael Dauncey

{{Infobox military person

| name = Michael Dauncey

| image =

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1920|5|11|df=y}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|2017|8|23|1920|5|9|df=y}}

| placeofburial_label =

| placeofburial =

| birth_place = Coventry, West Midlands, England{{cite web|url=https://www.unithistories.com/officers/1AirbDiv_officersD.htm#Dauncey_MDK|title=1st British Airborne Division officer histories|publisher=Unit Histories|access-date=2021-12-30}}

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| allegiance ={{flag|United Kingdom}}

| branch ={{army|United Kingdom}}

| serviceyears =1941–1985

| servicenumber =184738

| rank =Brigadier

| unit =Cheshire Regiment
Glider Pilot Regiment

| commands =126th Infantry Brigade
1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment

| battles =World War II

| awards =Distinguished Service Order

| relations =

| laterwork =

}}

Brigadier Michael Donald Keen Dauncey, DSO, DL (9 May 1920 – 23 August 2017) was a British Army officer who participated in Operation Market Garden during the Second World War.[http://www.paradata.org.uk/people/michael-d-k-dauncey Roll Call BRIGADIER MICHAEL D K DAUNCEY, DSO DL]

Military career

Michael Donald Keen Dauncy was born in Coventry in the West Midlands on 11 May 1920, the only son of Thomas Gough Dauncey and his wife, Alice Keen. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham.

=Market Garden=

On the first day of the operation, 17 September 1944, Dauncey flew a Horsa glider into Arnhem. Several days of fighting ensued, during which he sustained eye injuries. Despite being blinded in one eye, he fought on, but was taken prisoner. With another officer he escaped from a Dutch hospital on a rope of knotted sheets and hid in the Utrecht English Parsonage for four months.{{cite web|url= https://paradata.org.uk/article/17215/related/18559|title= Biographical Notes of Brig Mike Dauncey|accessdate= 11 July 2016}} He was later awarded the Distinguished Service Order for bravery shown during this battle.[http://www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/mike_dauncey.htm Account of Operation Market garden]

Later life

After a number of appointments he was made Colonel of the Cheshire Regiment in 1978.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

In retirement he lived in Uley, Gloucestershire, with his wife Marjorie (née Neep).[http://www.cheshiremilitarymuseum.co.uk/media/11038/crnewslettervol.2iss.5.pdf Mike Dauncey's 90th birthday celebrations] He died on 23 August 2017 aged 97.[http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetimes-uk/obituary.aspx?n=mike-dauncey&pid=186525153 BRIGADIER MIKE DAUNCEY Obituary]