Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema Siebren Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema DFC RMWO ( 3 April 1917 – 26 September 2007 ) was a Dutch wartime RAF - pilot , Dutch spy and writer . He was a Knight 4th class of the Military William Order . In the Netherlands he became famous as the writer of the 1970 book " Soldaat van Oranje " ( Dutch : " Soldier of Orange " ) in which he describes his experiences in World War II , and which was made into a 1977 film directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Rutger Hauer . Early life . Hazelhoff was born in Surabaya , on Java in the Netherlands East Indies ( now Indonesia ) , the son of Siebren Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema , senior , and Cornelia Vreede . His family moved to The Hague in the 1930s , and then Wassenaar . He travelled to the US in 1938 , writing a book of his experiences in 1939 , " Rendezvous in San Francisco " . He was a law student at Leiden University when the Second World War broke out . He joined the Dutch army reserve , and became involved in the underground after Germany occupied the Netherlands . He managed to escape to the United Kingdom as a crew member aboard of the Saint Cerque , a Swiss merchant ship in June 1941 , together with Bram van der Stok and two others . Secret agent . In London , Hazelhoff Roelfzema , with the help of general François van ' t Sant , director of the Dutch CID ( Central Intelligence Service ) and Col . Euan Rabagliatti ( Secret Intelligence Service ) set up a secret service group known as the Mews , after Chester Square Mews where they lived in London . The goal was to establish a contact with the Resistance in the Netherlands . Several agents were parachute d , others were put ashore at the beaches of Noordwijk and Scheveningen . Roelfzema did not receive much cooperation from the Dutch government , and Van ' t Sant was forced to transfer control over the CID to Colonel Mattheus de Bruyne of the Dutch Marine Corps . De Bruyne did not do a good job . He failed to recognize the fact that his agents were arrested and continued to broadcast messages – for the Germans . The usual procedure for transmitting messages was to include small errors . If an agent was forced to work for the Germans , he would leave out the errors . The result should be that contact was aborted immediately . De Bruyne , however , concluded that the agents simply forgot to use the security - checks and even sent messages to remind them . Other intelligence blunders were the maps he had attached to the wall in his London office , showing the landing sites of Noordwijk , Scheveningen and Walcheren in full detail . Hazelhoff Roelfzema and De Bruyne did not get on . De Bruyne threatened to court - martial for ignoring an order – at the same time Hazelhoff Roelfzema was proposed for the Willemsorde ( the highest military decoration in the Netherlands ) . He was awarded the Willemsorde ( Knight , 4th class ) in 1942 : the court - martial was cancelled after a meeting with Dutch Navy minister Furstner . The 1979 history of the Special Operations Executive network in the Netherlands by M . R . D . Foot has confirmed the degree of German penetration of SOE ' s Dutch networks , something SOE denied during the War . The British intelligence effort in the Netherlands was penetrated throughout the war , from the capture of two SIS agents , Captain Sigismund Payne Best and Major Richard Stevens in the Venlo Incident in November 1939 , to the capture of some 50 British and Dutch agents by the Abwehr and the Sicherheitsdienst in Operation North Pole . Royal Air Force . Hazelhoff Roelfzema became frustrated by the treatment and joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 . He attended flying school in Canada , where he became the best pilot cadet of his group . He returned to England in 1944 , and joined No . 139 Squadron RAF , part of the elite Pathfinder Force , tasked with illuminating targets for the night bombers of RAF Bomber Command . He made 72 sorties in Mosquito bomber s , of which 25 went to Berlin , and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross . " Adjudant " to the Queen . In April 1945 , Hazelhoff Roelfzema was appointed " adjudant " ( assistant ) to Queen Wilhelmina . He accompanied her back to the Netherlands in May 1945 , and piloted the airplane in which Princess Juliana , Prince Bernhard and their daughter Princess Beatrix flew back to the Netherlands . Hazelhoff Roelfzema helped Beatrix walk her first steps on liberated Dutch soil . After the war . Hazelhoff Roelfzema led a fairly restless life after the war , including a stint in Hollywood as an actor and then a writer . During the 1950s he worked as a writer for NBC ' s " Today Show " and " Tonight Show " in New York City . He later wrote for Dutch newspapers . He was appointed director of Radio Free Europe in Munich in 1956 . Later he was involved in a failed attempt by the CIA to support the South Moluccas Republic ' s bid for independence from the rule of Indonesian dictator Sukarno . He was involved in the creation of Racing Team Holland , attracting sponsors using his fame . His book Soldier of Orange ( Soldaat van Oranje ) , published in 1970 , relates his adventures during the war and the political turmoil of the Dutch government in exile . It attracted a lot of attention , even more so when it was made into a film by Paul Verhoeven in 1977 , starring Rutger Hauer as Hazelhoff Roelfzema . The film brought Verhoeven , Hauer and Hazelhoff Roelfzema to wider public attention outside the Netherlands , and was nominated for a Golden Globe . In 1980 , Hazelhoff Roelfzema played a ceremonial role as one of two kings of arms at the inauguration of Queen Beatrix . He was close to Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands , whom he entertained frequently at his home in Maui . He moved to Hawaii in early 1973 , and joined energy company Barnwell Industries Inc . as a director in 1977 . He wrote a second autobiography , " In Pursuit of Life " , in 2000 . He died on 26 September 2007 at his home in Āhualoa near Honokaa , on the Island of Hawaii , at the age of 90 . He was survived by his wife , Karin Steensma , and their son , daughter , granddaughter and great - granddaughter .