Paras leap into Second World War commemoration
WHEN paratroopers heard about a drop onto the site of a battlefield immortalised in the film A Bridge Too Far, they jumped at the chance – literally.
Eight members of 299 (Parachute Squadron) Royal Engineers took part in the mass jump over Arnhem in Holland.
It was the scene of a major battle in September 1944, which left more than 2,000 members of the British Airborne Forces dead.
And members of the Territorial Army unit, based at Middleton Barracks in Calvert Lane, west Hull, were invited to join other British and European forces for the memorial jump.
Captain Chris Wilcock, who has seen recent frontline action in Iraq and Afghanistan, took part in the recent jump.
He said: "As I walked away from the drop-zone, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
"The nostalgia of it all made for a very special day."
The crack unit, which has earned the right to wear the famous maroon beret, jumped at 900ft from a modern Hercules C130 aircraft.
Capt Wilcock said: "With military parachuting, there is always a build-up of anxiety prior to landing on a drop zone.
"But you can't begin to imagine what it must have felt for those guys who were forced to land in enemy territory in a foreign country.
"Those soldiers who dropped at Arnhem in the war deserve a lot of praise. Parachuting into the unknown takes a lot of courage."
After the drop, members of 299 (Parachute Squadron) Royal Engineers attended a service of remembrance next to the landing zone.
Soldiers were then taken to a Commonwealth cemetery in the town of Oosterbeek, where they visited graves.
Capt Wilcock said: "The most poignant part of it all was seeing the children adopt and maintain the graves of British soldiers.
"Children over there are taught from a very early age about the fact that British Airborne Forces came to liberate their country.
"The Dutch people have an awful lot of respect and gratitude for our military."
During the mission – codenamed Operation Market Garden – the British 1st Airborne Division and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were given the task of securing the bridge at Arnhem.
The units were parachuted and glider-landed into the area on September 17 and later.
The bulk of the force was dropped far from the bridge and never met their objective.
A small force of British 1st Airborne managed to make their way as far as the bridge, but was unable to secure both sides.
The Allied troops encountered stiff resistance from the German 9th and 10th SS Panzer divisions, which had been stationed in and around the city.
The British force at the bridge eventually surrendered on September 21, and a full withdrawal of the remaining forces was made on September 26.
The all-star cast of the 1977 film, A Bridge Too Far, included Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford and Anthony Hopkins.
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by JOHN, Portland,Maine.USA
Tuesday, October 07 2008, 8:24PM
“Thanks for the info Jim,I just couldnt remember the name of the film.”
by Kate, Bev
Tuesday, October 07 2008, 7:40PM
“Amazing film that, I met some of the old XXIst IPC chaps in Oosterbeek last yr.
They don't make em like that any more!”
by member of 299, hull
Tuesday, October 07 2008, 5:14PM
“Allan Tamworth Staffs Allan you can look on the 299 association web site on there is message page and pic you may be able to find some of your old friends the 1st friday in every month hold meeting in the sportmans bar hedon rd hull 20 00hr hope this helps”
by Jim, Hull
Tuesday, October 07 2008, 3:58PM
“Good memory John, it's called Theirs Is The Glory. Available from international sellers on a well known internet bidding website.”
by JOHN, Portland,Maine,USA
Tuesday, October 07 2008, 3:12PM
“No Kate I never did meet Jack Boulton.
The best film about the attack was the one that was made in 1946 with a lot of the original soldiers in it and not the Hollywood do over”
by Kate, Beverley
Tuesday, October 07 2008, 2:41PM
“John-did you ever meet Jack Boulton? A fellow coach driver and Arnhem vet of XXX corps?
Brilliant book about Arnhem is 'Before I sleep' although a novel it used Jacks experiences to tell the story. My biggest regret was never getting to meet Kate Ter Horst.
Kate”
by Jim, Hull
Tuesday, October 07 2008, 1:58PM
“There seems to be many comments about Op MG tactics made in good faith but they are some which seem inaccurate. May I be so bold as to recommend a good book to all the genuine enthusiasts out there? It¿s called ¿Arnhem 1944¿ (Battles & Campaigns) by William F Buckingham. Very good interpretation, very enlightening and genuine, regarding what went wrong and the reasons why.”
by John Foster, Portland,Maine,USA
Tuesday, October 07 2008, 11:28AM
“Many years go when I lived in Hull I was a coach driver and I had the greatest pleasure of driving some of the veterans of Arnhem to Holland to take part in their commerations.We stayed in Elst which is about 5 miles from Arnhem..
The respect with which these brave men are held in and around Arnhem and Oosterbeek is unbelievable.One of the most moving moments was when we were at the military cemetary and the Dutch schoolchildren stood there in the pouring rain after laying flowers on every grave. for an hour,standing attention next to each grave,cant see British kids doing that!
I also had the great priviledge of meeting Kate Ter Horst,the Angel of Arnhem,and what a nice lady she was and a very brave one before she was so tragically killed by a drunken driver outside her house.
We also attended a memorial service for the Polish paratroopers that landed near Arnhem and they were great heroes.We were treated by the greatest of respect by the Dutch people and I was told that if I ever got a parking ticket on the coach,which was highly unlikely,to leave the ticket on the windscreen and as the Pegasus badge was in the front windscreen one of the local people would remove it and pay it.We also attended the mass paachute drop at Ginkel Heath and if my memory serves me correctly there were 4 Hercules doing the drop that year you could see the tears in the eyes of the veterans and I personally found that very moving.
The hotel manager invited us to watch a slide show of Arnhem and Elst showing the pictures of those two places before and after the attack and we found out that his only sister was a runner for the allies in Arnhem and she was caught by the Gestapo and he told us that she was treated ,in his words,not very nice to put it bluntly,but he didnt go into details.The headquarters of the Gestapo are still there and it is now a hotel.
The Germans are still not liked at all in the Arnhem area and are shunned totally by a lot of the locals.
I have the greatest respect for these guys and their memorial service at the north end of the bridge was very very moving especially when you see that all of the traffic stops in the immediate area of the march from the church square to the memorial out of respect for these guys.
Heres an interesting fact though that not a lot of people know,many of our paratroopers used captured German weapons as they didnt tend to jam up as much as the British guns and the ammo was the same size!”
by Ron, @work
Tuesday, October 07 2008, 11:27AM
“Geoff, You have missed out the Poles who lost a lot of men in this operation.”
by Mark, Skidby
Tuesday, October 07 2008, 10:14AM
“I did a sponsored parachute jump last year, and I was frightened - and there wasn't even anyone shooting at me!!!!!!
Well done, lads”