Today 60 years ago

[Grouchy]

Operation Market Garden started.
A pleasant side effect of that operation was that troops of the US 101st Airborne Division "Screaming Eagles" (506th) landed on DZ "C" between Best and Son and started the liberation of my home area.

60 year laters all kind of things are going on in my country to remember this with vets coming over. Today, this morning for instance a meeting in Sint Oedenrode to remember and honor those who fought and died and later in the midday a paradrop on DZ "C".
Took a camera with me and took some pictures. Hope you enjoy them.

Dakota flying over for the 1st time and dropping to yellow "thingies" to measure wind etc:

[Grouchy]

Trying to catch the dakota in my lens

[Grouchy]

first stick jumped over LZ "C"

[Grouchy]

Another stick jumping from Dakota (in orginal uniforms and parachutes)

[Grouchy]

A stick landing with a B25 in the background

[Grouchy]

Para's slowly descending. Something didn't go right, notice the 2 para's "stuck" in eachother. Reserve chutes just have been opened (In the end they landed fine)

[Hartford688]

Good photos. I'm off to Oosterbeck tomorrow morning....

[Grouchy]

A closer look of the B25 "Duke of Brabant"

[Grouchy]

And of course the Dakota!

[Grouchy]

Then the best of it all. The real stars; the vets.
A red devil who made a misdrop [;)][:D] and 2 screaming eagles.
Spoke with the two Americans for quit awhile, great guys! They jumped over Normandy (I know the left one came down and fought around Carentan (Market Garden"Veghel (the left), Son (right veteran), if that was not enough they also fought around Bastogne.

[Grouchy]

Veteran posing with my uncle. Some #@%@ guy stole his uniform and decorations years ago in the USA, sad story to hear [:(].
If you look closey you will see a purple star, a bronze star (which he earned by destroying a tank at bastogne), his glider wings. and a Presidential Unit Citation IIRC.

[Grouchy]

A para safe and well on the ground.

[Grouchy]

ORIGINAL: Hartford688

Good photos. I'm off to Oosterbeck tomorrow morning....

Have a great time, no doubt you will. Had the luck to be in the army and to be deployed at the Ede kazerne in 1994 during the 1944-1994 "50 years" droppings over the Ginkelse Heide. One of the few times i actually volunteered so I was able to participate[:D]
Staying home this time, too much traffic chaos etc being a civy now

[Hertston]

Many thanks for that Grouchy. [:)]

It's that sort of contribution that really makes boards like this worthwhile.

[W Thorne_MatrixForum]

Good stuff Grouchy. Thanks for sharing. Any Idea of the name of the 101st trooper who had his uniform stolen?

[Grouchy]

ORIGINAL: W Thorne

Good stuff Grouchy. Thanks for sharing. Any Idea of the name of the 101st trooper who had his uniform stolen?

Sorry, I forgot [:(] information overload today.
He told me he leant his uniform, his decorations and other belongings (a nazi warflag etc) to a museum in Washington iirc. Then a some guy asked if he could have it one week longer...he never saw it back after that. He wanted to give his uniform, decorations and his belongings to a museum after his dead.

Btw, the left veteran came from Springfield, Missouri. His name is clearly show on his uniform.

[JudgeDredd]

Fantastic. Honour these people we must. For the rest of our lives, it's our duty to remember those who fought for liberation.

Let's not forget one main thing...these people fought for freedom. Governments of today have a more sinister take on war. And, please, don't get me wrong...I make a stab at no-one in the armed forces...they follow orders and government policy. But Governments, nowadays, have a darker side to declaring war.

My respect to all who fought in the second world war (in particular, but not only) will never be enough.

If it were not for one particular battle, the Battle of Britain, and the tactics and mistakes made therein, I may well be speaking German right now.

A debt of honour is owed to people who fought in the second world war....and I, for one, salute you...many thanks.

PS...thanks very much for sharing your experience with us.

[Arjuna]

Grouchy,

Great stuff. Many thanks.[:)]

[Smirfy]

THE AIRBORNE FORCES PRAYER


May the defence of the Most High be above and beneath, around and within us, in our going out and in our coming in, in our rising up and in our going down all our days and all our nights, until the dawn when the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings for the people of the world. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen



Support us, O Lord, all the day long of this earthly life, till the evening comes, the busy world is hushed, the fever of live is over, and our work done. Then in Your mercy grant us safe lodging, a welcome rest, and peace at least. Through Jesus Christ our Lord

[Ross Moorhouse]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3667986.stm

A group of British World War II veterans have staged a parachute jump over Arnhem, 60 years after they were sent into battle there.
The 10 former paratroops, aged between 79 and 85, landed at Grinkel Heath, near Arnhem, in the Netherlands.

Three of the men jumped solo from a height of about 3,500ft. The others jumped in tandem with the Army Parachute Regiment's Red Devils team.

They were being followed by 600 present-day paratroops.


Speaking after landing safely on the heath after Saturday's jump, veteran Harry Herbert, 80, said: "This is a doddle compared to 60 years ago.

"This grass was alight 60 years ago and we had a lot of people trying to shoot us down."

Mr Herbert, of Gillingham, Kent, was a pilot with the 10th Battalion during the battle.

Fellow-jumper Tom Hicks, of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, said of his tandem jump: "The thrill is that all our friends are here watching us. They are so welcoming when we come down it makes it all worthwhile.

Mr Hicks, formerly of the 1st Para Royal Engineers, said: "I'm only 85 so I've got a long way to go yet."


Tom Smithson, one of the solo-jumpers, said: "It was windy and I landed right on a big tree. I have scratches and grazes but I'm not seriously hurt.

"It was very windy and I couldn't get back onto the dropping zone but it is wonderful down here."

Mr Smithson, 80, of Sutton Coldfield, was a corporal with the Ist Division HQ Defence Platoon in 1944.

He said: "You never get rid of the memories. You think of nothing else."

All 10 of the veterans taking part in Saturday's jump were among the 16,500 paratroops and 3,500 troops in gliders who were dropped into Arnhem for the operation in 1944.

The British-led and ultimately failed effort to push through enemy lines was immortalised in A Bridge Too Far.

Field Marshal Montgomery's ill-fated Market Garden campaign was conceived to try to shorten the war.

The plan was to take control of eight bridges along the German-Dutch border.

British paratroops were deliberately dropped eight miles from the bridges, but it was impossible for them to reach their target before the Germans were tipped off.

Nearly 6,000 from the 1st Airborne Division were captured after Arnhem and 1,174 killed. Almost 1,900 men escaped.
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