EB went to Market Garden 63rd Anniversary

Since I'm new here I thought I'd share my 'Market Garden' experience from last September with the Forum. It was my first trip to the Arnhem area and it was unforgettable....

Please pardon me as I cut and paste from another forum. This thread will be quite the treat I promise!

On to Arnehm and the ceremony at the Airborne monument near the John Frost Bridge. 21 September 2007.













After the ceremony the Vets and everone marched down to the City Hall for a coffee and tea.

 

my wife, Kelly, and I went back to the bridge the following day and took a few photos. The original Bridge was blown up during the war.





A Bridge Too Far...





Then and now...sort of... (I didn't have the older picture with me on the bridge to compare on the spot.)



Sunset from Arnhem Bridge

 

Kelly and I started the day 22 September 2007 with a visit to the Arnhem Oosterbeek Commonwealth Cemetery.



Kelly walking amongst the markers by herself reading the names.

One of my favorite pics from that morning. Hope.


I found this marker quite intriguing. A Polish soldier with an American flag at the base. The attached note said "To them be the glory. With love from your daughter." There must be an interesting story behind this man.


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The plaque at the bottom says:

"George Edward Thomas was a seargent in charge of a 17 pounder gun near the old church in Oosterbeek. After being seriously wounded he died on the 26th of September in the house of Kate ter Horst at the age of only 34 years old. George Edward Thomas was the elder son of Edward an May Thomas and had two brothers and a sister. Thomas was married to Francis Margaret and was father of Margaret May. Frances Margaret died in 2006. Her ashes were laid to rest with her beloved husband George after being a widow for 62 years. In grateful rememberance. The people of Netherlands. That we may never forget."

 

After visiting the cemetery it was on to the ceremony at the Ginkel Heath. On this site, on 17 and 18 September 1944, thousands of paratroopers of the 4th Parachute Brigade landed to join the battle for Arnhem Bridge. On 22 September 2007, it was a site of commemoration. Lots of veterans attended this event which included several parachute drops on the Heath.







Polish Re-enactors







I joked with Kelly that upon seeing this 4 legged trooper that the Germans had overrun the drop zone. She promptly replied that since he was attached to a British Officer (Re-enactor) he must be a POW instead. She's getting better at this stuff...





The last two pictures were made the next morning after the crowds had disappeared.

 

This next group was a ceremonial component of the Dutch armed forces. My Dutch friend Bart joked that this was an example of the Dutch Army at the beginning of WWII. We all got a laugh but it got better when the announcer stated the the particular type of cannon being fired was commisioned in the 1880's and used up until 1939 or 1940. So in reality, this WAS the Dutch Army in WWII.

 

Bart with one of the veterans who helped to liberate his hometown.

Following the ceremony at the Ginkel Heath we visited a few other sites in the area before heading over to the Polishj ceremony at Driel and then back to Arnhem Bridge before finishing up the evening at the Cafe Schoonord with good company and a frosty beverage.

 

Back to the Polish Ceremony at Driel....



Polish Monument







The Sosabowski Monument






General Sosabowski's grandson and great grandson laying a wreath.



Polish Veterans laying a wreath



Our good friend Bart taking it all in...

On to Sunday 23 September. Before attending the ceremony at the Cemetery, Kelly and I explored a few of the more well known local sites in the Oosterbeek area...



Hackett's Hollow.

I got muddied up a bit and walked down into the Hollow and I was amazed at just how confined this area was. For those who are unaware, Hackett's hollow was the site of a bayonet charge by troopers of the 4th Parachute Landing Brigade . There is an excellent account of this action in the book "Men at Arnhem" by Geoffrey Powell.

Also on the agenda was a stop at the infamous Railway Tunnel...

 

The Ceremony at the Arnhem Oosterbeek Commonwealth Cemetery, 23 September 2007.



British Veterans











"We Will Remember Them"



There was an intimate ceremony by members of the KOSB after the main Ceremony.

 

The gentleman on the far left is the U.S. Representative to the Ceremony and is a Colonel but I can't recall his name.







Polish Veterans

 

"Operation Berlin 2007" It was at this site, near the old Lonsdale Church in Oosterbeek where the British 1st Airborne evacuated the Perimeter across the Rhine River on the night of 25/26 September 1944. On a sunny Sunday in September 2007, 30 or so people participated in an annual re-enactment of the event as a tribute.

The Old Church then and now.....







Monument at the Crossing Site



The Crossing Site



Busted! If I may paraphrase Bart... "In a country where you can walk into certain cafe's and openly order and smoke a marijuanna cigarette it is kind of silly that it is illegal to swim across a river." In the end, the Police gave up, civil disobedience ruled, and with the help of a small boat to make the crossing semi-legal, the swim took place anyway.



Bart and I about to take the plunge





Bart and I in the water.



On the other side. Flowers in hand, on our way to the monument outside Driel for a small ceremony.



Enjoying an adult beverage after the swim.

 

Alright....still in the Market Garden area.



The Uruquart House as made famous by the movie A Bridge Too Far. And the Hartenstein Hotel, now a museum dedicated to the British 1st Airborne.







Yet again...almost but not quite....



We did a shotgun tour of everything south of Arnhem in one day and as such really saw very little. Here are some of the highlights. Some shots from Nimegen Bridge...I was told that this is the original bridge from 1944. However, in the near future a new bridge will be built alongside this one to accomodate the increase in traffic. you can't stop progress I guess.









Another 'almost' then and now shot.



An old German bunker on the North side of the Bridge.

 

The Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery and Memorial is located about three kilometers north of the village of Groesbeek, Netherlands. The cemetery contains 2,338 Canadian soldiers of World War II. Many of the dead interred here were re-interred from temporary burial in Germany. It is believed that all fallen Canadian soldiers of the Rhineland battles, who were buried in German battlefields, were reinterred here (except for one who is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery). General H.D.G. Crerar, who commanded Canadian land forces in Europe, ordered that Canadian dead were not to be buried in German soil.





















The wall which lists the names of those whose bodies were never recovered. At the bottom, on the left side of the wreath, there is a small plant with a card that reads the following:

"Staff Seargent Gordon Albert Rickwood. Killed in Action at Arnhem, 18 Septmebr 1944. To Dad, with thanks for being my guardian angel. Anne, 2007"

 

Heading further south along Hell's Highway...
The General Gavin Monument in the village of Groesbeek.



The old lock bridge over the Maas Waal Canal near Mohlenhoek. This Bridge, demolished in 1991, was captured by the 504th PIR, 82nd Airbirne on 17 September 1944. There was a temporary US Cemetery near this cite as well.



The Bridge over the Maas River was also captured on 17 September by the 504th PIR, 82nd Airborne.





Here is a link to an excellent first person account of the of one F Company trooper at the Mass Bridge and beyond:

The Capture of the Maas River Bridge


Bunker which guards the South End of the Bridge.



The monument to the 501st PIR at the Eerde windmill. The remnants of the windmill are in the background. On 18 September 1944, sgt. Jacob Wingard of the 501st PIR was KIA within the windmill, taking a bullet in the chest as he guided mortar fire using the windmill as an observation post. Here is a picture of Wingate and one of his marker at Margraten Cemetery.

 

Henri Chappelle American Cemetery.












Frederick W. Castle






Rank and organization: Brigadier General. Assistant Commander, 4th Bomber Wing, U.S. Army Air Corps. Place and date: Germany, 24 December 1944. Entered service at: Mountain Lake, N.J. Born: 14 October 1908, Manila P.I. G.O. No. 22, 28 February 1947. Citation: He was air commander and leader of more than 2,000 heavy bombers in a strike against German airfields on 24 December 1944. En route to the target, the failure of 1 engine forced him to relinquish his place at the head of the formation. In order not to endanger friendly troops on the ground below, he refused to jettison his bombs to gain speed maneuverability. His lagging, unescorted aircraft became the target of numerous enemy fighters which ripped the left wing with cannon shells. set the oxygen system afire, and wounded 2 members of the crew. Repeated attacks started fires in 2 engines, leaving the Flying Fortress in imminent danger of exploding. Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, the bail-out order was given. Without regard for his personal safety he gallantly remained alone at the controls to afford all other crewmembers an opportunity to escape. Still another attack exploded gasoline tanks in the right wing, and the bomber plunged earthward. carrying Gen. Castle to his death. His intrepidity and willing sacrifice of his life to save members of the crew were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service.

 

Netherlands American Cemetery at Margraten

 

Walter C. Wetzel
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, 13th Infantry, 8th Infantry Division. Place and date: Birken, Germany, 3 April 1945. Entered service at: Roseville, Mich. Birth: Huntington, W. Va. G.O. No.: 21, 26 February 1946. Citation: Pfc. Wetzel, an acting squad leader with the Antitank Company of the 13th Infantry, was guarding his platoon's command post in a house at Birken, Germany, during the early morning hours of 3 April 1945, when he detected strong enemy forces moving in to attack. He ran into the house, alerted the occupants and immediately began defending the post against heavy automatic weapons fire coming from the hostile troops. Under cover of darkness the Germans forced their way close to the building where they hurled grenades, 2 of which landed in the room where Pfc. Wetzel and the others had taken up firing positions. Shouting a warning to his fellow soldiers, Pfc. Wetzel threw himself on the grenades and, as they exploded, absorbed their entire blast, suffering wounds from which he died. The supreme gallantry of Pfc. Wetzel saved his comrades from death or serious injury and made it possible for them to continue the defense of the command post and break the power of a dangerous local counterthrust by the enemy. His unhesitating sacrifice of his life was in keeping with the U.S. Army's highest traditions of bravery and heroism.















Me and my good friend Frank Gubbels, a Dutch National who lives near the cemetery.

 

From here we left the Market Garden area of operations and headed into the Hurtgenwald. From there it was on to Remagen, photos which I posted in another thread, and then onto Luxembourg and Belgium some.

So what do y'all think?

-EB