Maseko later escaped from the Italian POW camp in Tobruk and walked for three weeks though the desert and enemy lines to El Alamein. In October 1942 he joined in the defeat of his German and Italian captors as a stretcher bearer with the 1st South African Infantry Division in the Second Battle of El Alamein. After El Alamein he was transferred to the 6th South African Armoured Division and was gazetted as recipient of the Military Medal (MM) for his actions in Tobruk on 11 March 1943. The award was later bestowed on him by Major-General Francois Henry "Frank" Theron while in Italy with the armoured division.