paratrooper

The former paratrooper set off from Chile in 1998 and is more than two thirds of the way into the 36,000-mile adventure.

In an airborne spectacular, 700 paratroopers from eight Nato nations - including the Netherlands, Germany, UK and US - will parachute from 12 aircraft.

Mrs Baillie was even once married to a paratrooper and served in the Women's Royal Naval Service during the Second World War but had never considered a jump.

Zo was determined to return to the fight in her homeland, and joining up with Poland's elite paratrooper unit in Britain - known as the Cichociemni or Silent Unseen - made this possible.

"I immediately knew what it was. I recognised it as gunfire," the former paratrooper told the BBC several days after the shooting.