September 17th. . . . . . . . . .

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

The 60th anniversary of the drop for MARKET-GARDEN, the operation to race the 60-odd miles to capture and secure Arnhem Bridge, and thus a bridgehead over the Rhine River. This is reflected by the excellent book A BRIDGE TOO FAR and by the movie of the same name.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have been up that road, walked those forests and fields, and I wouldn't have wanted to fight there. Worse still was walking the British cemetery at Arnhem, recognizing many of the names, and knowing how they died. If there are any ghosts on any battlefield, there are, certainly, in the woods around Arnhem.

The operation could have worked... but we'll leave that for another thread. Suffice to say that it spelled the death of the British 1st Airborne Division, and We Remember Them. I have had the privilege to have bought beers for some of the glider pilots who took them in.

Some of our people, here at MLU, are there today. They will render our respects accordingly.

To all....

[Hanno Spoelstra]

I am happy to report the 60th anniversary of Market-Garden generated a huge public interest in the Netherlands. All sorts of activities were going on for the best part of the week, many of them being covered on TV, radio and in newspapers.

On Saturday hundreds of paras of the Netherlands Airmobile Brigade and the British 4th Para-regiment were dropped over the Ginkel Heath. Eleven veterans of the 1944 dropping jumped again, three of them solo! On the ground 50.000 to 60.000 people attended the dropping from two C47 Dakota's and numerous Hercules aircraft. After the dropping a Spitfire and three Harvards gave a spirited display.
That day I drove a Jeep from the Ginkel Heath to Oosterbeek. Amazed by how large the distance actually is, it was the most impressive historic drive I made to date.

In attendance of Queen Beatrix and Prince Charles, 15.000 veterans and other visitors gathered on the Airborne Cemetary in Oosterbeek on Sunday to commemorate the fallen.

Also on Sunday veterans commemorated the capturing of the Nijmegen bridge. I was crewing a Chevrolet Gun Tractor plus 25-pdr gun and we drove five veterans through the streets of Nijmegen and across the bridge. One of them, Bill, was driving a Morris-Commercial gun tractor in the Nijmegen area in 1944.
The route was lined by solid numbers of people from all walks of life, young and old, applauding for the veterans, shaking their hands, kissing them and shouting thank you! I was deeply moved by the whole happening. One of the veterans told me: "Holland is a small country, but the people have big hearts".


Source: http://www.marketgarden.com

For more pictures see http://www.airbornemuseum.org/, http://www.airborne-herdenkingen.nl/ and http://www.stiwot.nl/?action=file&fi...p_mg180904.asp

[Hanno Spoelstra]

More pics: Airborne herdenking