Thought this of interest ,(source abnetwork)first time it has come to my notice Commemoration of the first casualties of Arnhem-Bath Sun 7th Sep 14 Double Hills is the Annual Memorial to remember the 23 lives lost on Sunday 17th Sept 1944 when Glider RJ113 crashed into a meadow called Double Hills, near the village of Paulton, Somerset Nr. Bath. They had earlier taken off with their tug, a Stirling Bomber, from RAF Keevil airfield. The dead included 21 Airborne Sappers from the 9th Field Company (Airborne) Royal Engineers and 2 Pilots from the Glider Pilot Regt. Their glider broke up in the skies over Paulton and crashed to earth. They are now buried at Weston Super Mare and the Memorial was built by Royal Monmouth Regt RE and established in 1979. Appropriately, it was unveiled by General R.E.Urquhart GOC 1st Airborne Division in 1979. CGS General Sir Peter Wall GCB, CBE, ADC, a former OC 9 PARA Sqn RE, has kindly agreed to be the Reviewing Officer on 7 Sep. 9 Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers-23 Engineer Regt (Air Assault) and the Army Air Corps (Glider Pilot Regiment) will be in attendance as in every year since inception. DOUBLE HILLS 2014 A SPECIAL REMEMBRANCES Sunday 7th September 2014 Tenniscourt Road, Paulton at 2pm latest. “Everything is ready for Sunday “says Peter Yeates organiser of the Double Hills Arnhem Memorial at Paulton. “ We just want hundreds of people to come and remember, it is going to be a marvellous day, the soldiers have travelled a long way to attend, we should all make the effort to thank them, and for their continued bravery every day. ” All is planned and ready for the Westfield Ladies and Mendip Choirs who will sing. Aircraft from the Army and the Royal Air Force will fly over in a special salute at 2.30pm. The relatives will come from all over UK and again lay their wreaths in memory of their Paulton lost loved ones. The Children from far and wide have been specially requested to attend and take part... We do appeal to all groups of children, schools, churches; please attend Double Hills all welcome to lay poppies. Yeovil Town Band will play. There will be a large Parade afterwards through the village. Coming specially are the Air Assault Parachute Engineers, will be remembering the soldiers they lost in the 1944 crash. As will the Army Air Corps lads from Middle Wallop who represent the Glider Pilots killed at Paulton, and now instead of Gliders operate the most modern Helicopters in the fight for our freedom all over the world. The Head of the Army General Sir Peter Wall will be there to review and remember. He too has fought in recent conflicts as a Parachute Royal Engineer. There is a special attendance arranged for “The Last Few “. This is a chance for the public to attend, and honour a special group of the last Heroes from World War Two. Who then are these? These are the very last few survivors from World War Two. Now so very few. This year they will be at Paulton to remember their fallen Paulton friends. These last veterans from World War Two are nearly all over 90. The final few! They fought at Arnhem, and in Normandy. In attendance will be Lt Colonel John Humphreys. He first fought in North Africa, and then Italy, where he was captured and escaped. He was engaged in the fierce fighting holding the Bridge at Arnhem, that Bridge just too far. Again captured and escaped, but now aged 93 he is a resident of the Chelsea Royal Hospital. He makes the special journey to Paulton. He parachuted into Arnhem, but was of the same elite group that were killed on Sunday 17th September 1944, he knew many of them. Then we shall have with other Normandy Veterans, a group of them, Petty Officer Ken Sturdy leading, a beach master at Normandy. He fought all the way into German afterwards. This is maybe the last chance to thank the last of the few who will parade at Paulton. The Normandy veterans disband this year. Earlier this year Ken was on National TV and newspapers. He even judged a BBC cooking programme. Then there will be 95 year old Glider Pilot Arthur Shackleton, who has been helping Peter Yeates at Paulton for 35 years. So this is maybe the chance to see these brave men, and to meet them and the relatives of the fallen. So many relatives are coming this 70th Arnhem year. We want everyone to come and remember, the brave lads who died. And for those who survived and fought for us, a chance to tell them their endeavours will never fade. Attend and appreciate please. There will be a special place in the programme for the children to lay poppies, Scouts, Guides, Brownies from the local area, and every child that attends will be given poppies to lay and hear the children’s poem, the “Double Hills Poem” –In the village Hall after the ceremony is displayed a statue of a group of evacuees. Nurse Ruby Bowell who composed the poem was taking a group of evacuees, sent into the quiet country away from the city bombing, suddenly the Glider broke up overhead, and she rushed the children to safety. Then returned to try and rescue the soldiers trapped in the crash. But the Glider exploded and no survivors were found. It is 35 years since the General Royal Urquhart unveiled the Memorial, and this was shortly after he was portrayed in the “Bridge too far” by Sean Connery, and their appearance is uncannily the same. We should never forget to remember that the airborne soldiers who lost their lives at Paulton were the very first casualties of that plan to capture the “Bridge too far” Finally Peter Yeates says this is an opportunity to come, and remember, and donate so that this Memorial will continue for years and years. It is a special place of remembrance now for Arnhem in England. The Land was donated by HRH the Prince of Wales.
A remembrance service has been held in a Somerset village to honour soldiers who lost their lives during a World War Two operation. Gliders carrying 23 soldiers crashed in the Double Hills field in Paulton, while en-route to the Battle of Arnhem in 1944. Each year a remembrance service is held. Read more http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-29099563
