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Timeless • Summer 2019 55 TANZANIATravels · WALES · CAMBODIA · UAE · · PORTUGAL EUROPE REMEMBERS

In the second part of our special feature on Europe Remembers, the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, we focus on Liberation Route Europe, and have an exclusive interview with a 99-year-old veteran of the battle of

he Liberation Route Europe (LRE) Listening Spot Stories before the end of the war. The hotel (a is an international remembrance More than 180 audio spots have been grand house at the time) was used to try Ttrail that connects important milestones created across the in the and hide a large number of local Jewish from modern European history. It forms provinces of , Noord-Brabant, people in a cubbyhole under the stairs. a link between the main regions along and en , Sadly a crying baby gave away the hiding the Western Allied Forces’ advance from and in the German-Dutch border region. place - but it is these personal stories southern England, to the beaches of At each audio spot a personal story is that help to bring, and keep alive, the , , , the told about the experiences of someone memories of the Second World War. Netherlands, the Hürtgen Forest and in that area. For example, a 6-year-old, The stories of the locations can be on to . The route continues to the on seeing parachutists in September downloaded from www.liberationroute. Polish city of Gdańsk, where a democratic 1944, ran to her mother saying, “God com and there is also a LRE app. Available revolution for overcoming the division is throwing people out of heaven”. Her for iPhone and Android users the app of Europe was launched nearly two mother replied, “Do not worry my child, off ers easy access to historical events, generations later. In southern Europe, it is only confetti.” sites, biographies, and audio stories. has now joined the LRE, from Sicily Another listening spot can be found in There will also be a new book, Travel to the Gustav and Gothic Lines, as has the the grounds of a hotel at Molenbosweg, the Liberation Route Europe, that will be Provence region in southern and in the Netherlands. Under a lime tree published in July. the city of Pilsen in the Czech Republic. in front of the LRE also gives people the chance to hotel, you can discover and experience the route that the hear the story Allied Forces took during the fi nal phase of owner Marcel of the Second World War. It connects Hoogenboom’s this history with life in modern day grandparents. Europe, as well as other parts of the world, His grandfather, underscoring the role of international Leendert, was part reconciliation and the promotion of of the resistance refl ection on the value of our hard-won group in Van Deest freedoms. A new hiking trail, stretching in Middelburg, but 3,000 miles from to Berlin, and he was betrayed by passing through hundreds of points of a neighbour. He interest, will be opened in 2020. died in a camp just

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Bevr_190509_ Adv Timeless Travels magazine.indd 1 09-05-19 16:34 EUROPE REMEMBERS HIGHLIGHT:OPERATION were many families with young children. It would seem that an important message is being handed down to MARKET GARDEN the younger generation: freedom must not be taken for granted. It is so easy to forget, nearly 75 years on from the horrors of the Second World War, but it is essential Operation Market Garden saw fi erce fi ghting around the towns of Arnhem, to remember, so that history is not repeated. And the and as the allies sought to push up into and end the war. Dutch are very good at remembering. Today these events are still remembered, nearly 75 years later, particularly for One of the main events in September is the Airborne the hope of liberation that they brought to the Dutch people. By Alice Norman commemoration and parachute drop at Ginkel Heath. Thousands of people attend to see a recreation of the start of Operation Market Garden, when 100,000 parachutists landed in the area. While today only about 350 parachutists take to the skies (from all NATO countries), it gives a good idea of what it must have looked like and to imagine what the Dutch must have felt after four years of occupation, to suddenly see the skies fi lled with allied soldiers. After the airdrop there is an offi cial commemoration and this is one of the events for this week that the veterans like to attend. Watching them throughout the ceremony, it was diffi cult to not be emotional thinking of the sacrifi ce

An important“ message is being handed down to the younger Above from left to right: Waves of paratroopers land in the Netherlands; The remains of Nijmegen after the battle; The bridge at Arnhem after the British paratroops had been driven back generation: freedom must not be taken for granted peration Market Garden was an important campaign during the latter stages of the Second World War and is known to many Obecause of the fi lm A Bridge Too Far. The campaign was a push these men had made. This year and next will probably designed to reach Berlin and end the war: the British, Poles and Canadians be the last major celebrations that they will attend, and would land in Holland and take the northern route to Berlin while the you can tell as they wipe their tears away, they are still Americans, already in France, would push upwards from there, avoiding remembering the friends and comrades that they lost. the . The ‘Market’ part of the operation was the thousands of A lot of attention is centred on the town of Arnhem, troops who would land by air, and then meet up with the ‘Garden’ part, the as this is famous from the fi lm and for the fi erce

troops who were already on the ground. 4.0 BY-SA CC Jackson/ © Duncan Image: fi ghting to take the bridge. When walking around the As often happens during war-time, things rarely go to plan, and in town, Nico, my guide, kept pointing out British fl ags this instance, the British hierarchy were unaware that there were two SS and saying how much the people of this area loved the Panzer divisions situated near Arnhem at the time. They were actually in British. When I asked why, he replied it was because the process of being recalled to Berlin, but had been delayed, so heard of Operation Market Garden. “But it was a failure,” I about the landing of the allied troops and rushed to secure the bridges in said. “Why should they like the British so much when Arnhem and Nijmegen. In the end, only one British battalion reached the they lost the battle here?” “Because it gave them hope bridge in Arnhem and they bravely held out against the Germans, without of freedom,” Nico said. “Before that, they had thought reinforcements, for four days, before having to surrender. that no-one cared about them, had forgotten them: Therefore this area in the Netherlands is very aware of its history, but the British gave them hope.” especially the towns of Nijmegen, Oosterbeek and Arnhem. There are This remark gave me a whole new perspective, not several museums in the area commemorating its war history and each year only on the battle, but also the relationship between in September a number of special events are organised. Last year I was our countries. We are so lucky in England – we have not invited to the commemorative events and for some reason I was surprised been conquered since the 11th century. As a nation we do by the numbers who attended them. In England, besides the wreath laying not know what it is like to live without our freedom. each November, we don’t have anything like this. But then we weren’t A new information centre has been built near the occupied. And it is not just the older generation who attend here: there Above: Operation Market Garden - Allied Plan bridge at Arnhem (which had 15,000 visitors in the fi rst

58 Timeless • Summer 2019 Timeless • Summer 2019 59 Travels Travels EUROPE REMEMBERS EUROPE REMEMBERS PLACES TO VISIT:NETHERLANDS Image: © John Waddy © John Image:

Camp Vught National Memorial The Camp Vught Memorial is located on the former SS camp Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch (Camp Vught). The combined memorial centre and museum features various exhibitions, a memorial room and wall of refl ection. A Overloon War Museum children’s memorial lists the names and ages of 1,269 Jewish The Overloon War Museum is the largest war museum in three months after it opened), and it includes a video children who were deported and murdered in June 1943. the Netherlands. Based in a large hangar, there are over 150 which tells the story of the battle from a British, Dutch Between January 1943 and September 1944, 31,000 people were vehicles, planes and guns from WWII, and personal stories and German point of view. The town also holds a large imprisoned in the camp, including 12,000 Jews who were sent give insight into the problems that both the local population, concert, called Bridge to Liberation, with the concert on to extermination camps, Roma gypsies, Jehovah’s witnesses, and occupier, had to deal with during the war. The battle of platform built out onto the river and a big screen homosexuals, hostages, black market dealers, criminals and Overloon took place in the surrounding area and was a result hanging on the bridge. The concert tells a story of war the homeless. Camp Vught was the only concentration camp of the failure of Operation Market Garden. and freedom, again refl ecting on the past to inform the outside Nazi-Germany. www.nmkampvught.nl www.oorlogsmuseum.nl future. There is music, readings, fi lm and dance and it makes for a wonderful evening’s experience. There are many activities put on in September, Windmill on the Frontline including a reconstruction of an ambulance station The town of Eerde saw fi erce fi ghting during Operation Market Garden and complete with (fake) wounded soldiers, but there is the Windmill at Eerde was used as a look-out post during the skirmishes. It one experience which you can actually attend every Urquhart’s HQ during the campaign, recreates the was destroyed on 24 September 1944 and on the mill there are plaques with the Previous night of the year. This is the Sunset March over the river battle for Arnhem bridge in its basement, but the item page from top names of the fallen. On 17 September 2014 a small museum was opened in the Waal in Nijmegen. In 2013, a new city bridge called which moved me most was a plaque that lies opposite to bottom: mill which includes belongings of the Americans who fought in Eerde. Next the Crossing (Oversteek) was constructed, close to the the entrance to the house. Written by Colonel John Commemorative to the mill there is a memorial for the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. This area where the American 82nd Airborne crossed the Waddy, it is a thank you to the local people for helping ceremony at site is also featured on the Brabant Remembers app. Ginkel Heath; river Waal on September 20, 1944, as part of Operation the allied troops at great danger to themselves. John Reconstruction www.eerdsemolen.nl Market Garden. 48 Allied soldiers were killed during Waddy was wounded three times in the battle of of the Battle of this attempt, and the bridge has 48 pairs of street lights. Arnhem as a young captain, and he has often taken Arnhem at The Every night at sunset, the lights are lit, pair by pair, at a part in the commemorative events each September. Airborne Museum at Oosterbeek slow marching pace. At the same time, two veterans are One of those events is a service in the Oosterbeek and inside The chosen to march across the bridge, while others line the War Cemetery which is usually attended by thousands Liberation route and salute as they go past. It is a daily tribute by of locals, veterans and their families. The children Museum at veterans of any age to the Allied soldiers who lost their (mostly Dutch but some English) are asked to lay lives fi ghting for freedom in Holland and the public is fl owers on each grave - and there are more than 1,764 Above, left: invited to join in by walking behind the veterans. headstones there. Colonel Waddy is a great advocate The Canadian cemetery at The main museums in the area include The of involving the children in the commemorative events Groesbeek Liberation Museum at Groesbeek (reopening in as he believes very strongly in educating the younger Above, right: September 2019), which tells the wider story of the generation about the war - as well as remembering it. Children lay Info Centre WWII, Nijmegen German Cemetery, Ysselsteyn area from September 1944 onwards, the Airborne In today’s turbulent times, it is good to refl ect fl owers during The Info Centre WWII aims to provide visitors of The cemetery at Ysselsteyn contains the graves of 31,598 Museum at Oosterbeek, which is dedicated to the that we are stronger together and that our freedom the service in Nijmegen and its surrounding area, the best introduction German war dead, most of whom who died in the the Airborne story of Operation Market Garden, the Overloon shouldn’t be taken for granted. Perhaps we should all to the stories, heritage, events, and museums linked Netherlands during World War II and it is the largest Cemetery War Museum which is the largest war museum in the take a moment to remember the past this September - to the Second World War in the vicinity. Visitors start German war cemetery in the world. Those buried here also Above: The Netherlands and the WWII Info Centre in Nijmegen. as it should always inform our future. sunset march with a ‘vivid experience’ that will gives them a better include Dutch, Poles and Russians who fought on the side There are also a number of war cemeteries in the area understanding of what consequences WWII had for of the German military. In a circle near the entrance are 85 including a Canadian one at Groesbeek and a German Nijmegen and its surroundings. There is also information German soldiers who fell in World War I. There are also To fi nd details of all Operation Market Garden events and one at Ysselsteyn. The latter has over 30,000 graves and about the diff erent historical locations in the city and the 3,000 war dead from the in the 75 Years , commemorations and festivities see it is a truly sobering sight to see all the black crosses www.airborne-herdenkingen.nl/en/airborne-program-2019/ and centre also functions as a starting point for historical city and Hürtgen Forest, that were initially interred next to the stretching as far as the eye can see. www.europeremembers.com/events walks and educational programmes. Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten. The Airborne Museum, which was General Roy www.infocentreww2.com www.jbs-ysselsteyn.de

60 Timeless • Summer 2019 Timeless • Summer 2019 61 Travels Travels EUROPE REMEMBERS

ELENE KRŐLLER-MÜLLER advisor, HP Bremmer, Helene and her THE KRÖLLER-MÜLLER MUSEUM was a leading European husband purchased some 12,000 works art patron of the early 20th of art between 1907 and 1922, thereby century, and one of the fi rst building one of the largest private art women in Europe to acquire a major art collections of the twentieth century. They DURING WORLD WAR II Hcollection. Born in Germany in 1869, also acquired nearly 300 works by Van she married the Dutchman, Anton Gogh, making it the largest private Van Kröller in 1888. Under the leadership Gogh collection in the world. It has been of Anton, Müller and Co (the company said that Helene was the fi rst to recognise The Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo is one of the leading museums founded by Helene’s father), grew into a his talent. Her passion for his oeuvre and in the Netherlands for modern and contemporary art. It also has c.90 highly profi table company and with the her exhibition of his work undoubtedly paintings and 180 drawings by Vincent van Gogh, making it the second acquired assets Helene was able to start contributed to his international largest Van Gogh collection in the world. During WWII the museum her art collection in 1907. recognition and fame. directors shared a heavy responsibility to protect their collection Guided by infl uential art critic and www.krollermuller.nl and the museum. Here is their story. “It took a week to transfer all the works of art [to the bunker], but once they were safe, the museum closed its doors to the public.”

Transferring the collection to the bunker in 1940

Nurses from the emergency hospital based in the old museum cheer the fi rst Willy Auping Jr, the museum’s fi rst curator The reinstallation of the museum Helene and Anton Kröller-Müller The gallery restored after the war arriving Canadian troops, 15 April 1945

elene Kröller-Müller was a Helene’s collection city, in a place where art lovers could passionate collector of works becomes accessible to truly enjoy the unique combination of by Van Gogh, Picasso and not fi nished when the war began in 1939, also helped to reinstate the art so the the public art and nature. Mondrian and her aim in life was but on 22 July 1940, the entire collection museum could open quickly to the public Helene fi rst presented her art collection Her dream was fi nally materialised in to build a museum for her unique collection was moved there. The works of art were once more. The museum was offi cially in 1913 in the building next to Anton’s 1938 when the museum opened its doors. Hand donate it to the Dutch people. The packed in order of value and transferred reopened on 6 October 1945. offi ce of Müller & Co in The Hague. The building was designed by the Belgian Great Depression meant that her dream to the shelter in small groups. It took a After the war, the museum’s fi rst The collection could be viewed by architect Henry van de Velde. In the couldn’t come true, so when she died in week to transfer all the works of art, but curator, Willy Auping Jr, bought the Van appointment and the fi rst fl oor was 1970s, a new wing was added, designed 1939, she left her collection to the State of once they were safe, the museum closed Gogh masterpiece, The Potato Eaters. New opening of air- reserved for the ‘ultramodern’ works of by Dutch architect Wim Quist. the Netherlands, on the condition that they its doors to the public. This painting, along with those previously raid shelter Juan Gris, Auguste Herbin, Bart van der would build a museum to house it. In the fi nal years of the war, the museum purchased by Helene, meant that ‘the Later this year, the museum plans to Leck and Piet Mondrian. After her death, a new director Sam served as a hospital for the Red Cross. It collection of works from his Dutch open the ‘bunker’ which was used Helene had originally wanted to build van Deventer and curator Willy Auping Jr accommodated 310 adults and 40 children. period’ was now complete and was ‘a to store Helene’s art during the war. her museum in The Hague, but after a shared the responsibility of protecting the The patients were housed in the Van de crown on the collection’. Visitors in September and October visit to the Veluwe in Spring 1914, she museum and collection during the war. Velde wing and St Hubertus hunting lodge To see a timeline of stories about the 2019 and April and May 2020 will be decided to build it in The Hoge Veluwe Helene had started building a bomb served as the nurses’ accommodation. museum, Helen Kröller-Müller, and the able to visit the site for the fi rst time. National Park instead. By choosing this shelter before her death, in a sand dune in On the 15 April 1945, the museum museum during the Second World War, For more information, see the museum venue, she could present her collection the Veluwe National Park nearby. It was was liberated by the Canadians, who see www.krollermuller.nl/timeline. website: www.krollermuller.nl/ outside the hustle and bustle of the big

62 Timeless • Summer 2019 Timeless • Summer 2019 63 Travels Travels EUROPE REMEMBERS

my rifl e in a bag attached to my leg, but the bombs and shells were landing all looking at that bastard any more’, and somehow when I pulled my cord they around us. Suddenly there was a big crash some of the German soldiers clapped! INTERVIEW WITH... became loose and spiralled to the ground, and some German troops would rush narrowly missing one of my soldiers who through and then ours would rush back. Life in the POW camp swore at me roundly. When I landed Eventually the Germans took over and “Our Stalag was for other ranks of all alongside him, however, he had the they established a fi ring position in the nationalities, including 15,000 Russians, COLONEL JOHN WADDY decency to salute and said ‘sorry sir!’ ruined window of the room I was in. I 5,000 French and 5,000 British and a remember our Medical Offi cer shouting small compound with 30 offi cers who had John Waddy was a Captain in the 1st Parachute Regiment when he was wounded taking part On the landings of at them that this was contrary to the been captured in Greece and Yugoslavia in Operation Market Garden. Here the 99-year-old veteran discusses the war, life as a Operation Market Garden Geneva convention, as the Germans had during special operations. As the Germans POW and being an advisor to Richard Attenborough. Exclusive interview by Fiona Richards “We were dropped on the correct drop set up a machine gun in the window with retreated, they moved the prisoners zone, but it was eight miles away from our a Red Cross fl ag hanging over it. further south as they wanted to use them objective. And this was a typical mistake “Afterwards when all the wounded were as potential hostages, so our small bunch of so many airborne operations – where do left behind, I was taken to a German-run of ex-airborne offi cers now were joined olonel John Waddy joined his ‘I would like to see a force of 20,000 you drop the parachute troops? (Nowadays Dutch hospital in Apeldoorn – it was by offi cers that had been captured at family’s regiment, The Somerset parachute troops - pray let me have them.’ an operation is not on if you can’t drop the quite comfortable actually – and I was just Dunkirk. While prisoners, they had been CLight Infantry and was posted in And it was amazing to set it up from troops close to the objective). dumped on the bed with all I had, which allowed to have their uniforms and clothes July 1939 to the 2nd Battalion, then scratch, we had nothing in England, just a We were dropped on the second day was my battledress jacket and my khaki sent out. So they were in full service dress serving in India, at the age of 19. After gang of enthusiasts! But we ended the war and that was one of the mistakes of the shirt. I had fi eld dressings all around my with shiny brass buttons and Sam Brownes nearly two years soldiering in the with something like 30-40,000 parachute campaign. I’m afraid our Divisional head and there were some German SS while I had been captured with only my Raj, and keen for more adventure, he troops and it spread to America - they Commander, a good man, who was an troops in the ward all nattering away, and battle jacket and khaki shirt and wore volunteered for the 151 British Parachute caught the bug as well. experienced infantry soldier but not an because I could speak German, I could scrounged trousers etc from the French Battalion (later renumbered as 156) airborne one, landed too many non- understand what they were saying. They and Americans. Our little hut of about which was established in India in 1941. About his men of B company essential fi ghting troops on that fi rst day; believed that we were cousins and we should 35 offi cers came under the command As one of the founding offi cers, they “They were amusing characters, kept a lot of the glider troops and HQ troops be fi ghting together against the Russians. of a Colonel in the Welsh Guards who trained in Egypt, Tunisia and Palestine me in fi ts of laughter. A lot of them were before seeing action in Italy. In October Irish. In the early days when we were 1943 he was promoted to Major and experimenting, this type of warfare was commanded B Coy 156 Bn at Arnhem, new and unheard of in the conservative But there were two parachute brigades left in England, ours where he was wounded in fi ghting at British Army, and in fact we were looked John Waddy as a young offi cer in and the Polish brigade, and what he should have done is not Johanna Hoeve woods in September 1944. the desert during WWII down upon by the rest of the them - we ” He was subsequently wounded twice were thought of as thugs who came out of land all the administrative and glider troops but do what the more while at a Main Dressing Station aeroplanes, and not proper soldiers. Even Americans did, and put all the parachute troops in fi rst and eventually taken prisoner. In Spring Colonel Waddy talks to Fiona about... though our standard of training was way 1945 he was liberated by General Patton’s above anyone else’s, as we were allowed to army from Stalag VIIA in Bavaria. The formation of The select the men we wanted. spent the fi rst 24 hours sitting on their “Eventually I was put in another ward had been at Dunkirk. After roll call with He then spent nearly three years in Parachute Regiment: “As an offi cer you did quite a lot of backsides on the landing zones. There to the soldiers so I couldn’t instruct the Germans, they would hand over to Palestine combating the Jewish terrorist “In the spring of 1940, German parachute jumps because in those days you were were only two under-strength parachute them to escape, not that there was a lot the senior British offi cers to dismiss the threat where he was wounded again in July troops captured Belgium and Holland experimenting with diff erent aircraft and regiments that were sent to the bridge, of that going on, and in the ward of 18 parade. Our hut was told to stand by 1947. After some routine postings in the UK, with the highly successful use of airborne diff erent equipment and how to jump and only one got there. beds opposite the door of my little room I as everyone else was dismissed and the Libya and Egypt he rejoined The Somerset forces, which fascinated a few offi cers with your weapons and equipment on you “Whereas General Gavin, the American could hear the German soldiers crying for Light Infantry in Malaya in 1952. Lengthy in the War Offi ce. They managed to get instead of in containers. So, inevitably commander of the 82nd Airborne their mothers in the night and the English spells patrolling in the Selangor Jungle some items of parachute equipment the offi cers had to be the guinea pigs – Division, to the south had about eight soldiers telling them to shut up. earned him a Mention in Dispatches. from the Dutch, and brought them ‘it wouldn’t have been done, old boy, if bridges to capture, and his tactic was In 1958 the Parachute Regiment was back to England, and then more or less, you hadn’t done it fi rst’. We also had to to get what, he said, was the maximum Time in hospital allowed to have a permanent cadre they started inventing a new parachute demonstrate the equipment was OK. I number of bayonets to attack and hold “I was in hospital for about six weeks and of offi cers which he volunteered to regiment at an RAF station outside remember once we were testing how to the bridges. He used two parachute then sent to a ‘hospital’ in Bavaria: Stalag rejoin, and was accepted and posted as Manchester as a private venture. land with our weapons - hitherto we’d brigades together to attack each bridge VIIA. It was called a hospital because it Second in Command of 2 Para, serving “They sent out a round robin to all had to have them in containers that were and so they succeeded. had wooden huts. About a week after with them in Cyprus, Jordan and the interested battalions in England asking dropped, but sometimes they didn’t drop, arriving, a big, blonde German nurse came UK. He was awarded the OBE in 1962. for volunteers and had the backing of or there were bushes on the landing zone On being wounded into my room and said ‘your soldiers are In 1964 he was appointed Colonel Churchill who had just become Prime and we couldn’t fi nd them. “I thought, once or twice, I might not being disrespectful to the Führer’. I found SAS and commander of the SAS Group Minister. It was the sort of idea that “So it was important that everybody make it. The second and third times I was out there had been a big ward of 24 beds (comprising all 3 SAS Regiments) and in interested him as he was intent on had to have a weapon and we had to injured was when I was in the Medical with both German and British soldiers 1976 he took 6 months’ leave to act as a defending England but also looking experiment how to drop with a rifl e or Corp dressing station in Oosterbeek together. One day, one of our soldiers Colonel John Waddy OBE military adviser for the fi lm A Bridge Too further ahead to attacking occupied machine gun. I remember jumping with and we were literally in the midst of the got out of bed and turned over a picture at the 70th anniversary of Operation Far directed by Richard Attenborough. Europe. He wrote a famous memo saying a light machine gun and a shovel and fi ghting. I was in a Dutch house and of Hitler to the wall saying ‘I can’t stand Market Garden

64 Timeless • Summer 2019 Timeless • Summer 2019 65 Travels Travels EUROPE REMEMBERS EUROPE REMEMBERS

For details of all events see: Colonel came over to us and said ‘I am (dressed in pink shorts, no idea why), the Dunkirk chaps they must see them www.europeremembers.com/events absolutely appalled at the standard of your when he saw the fl ag on the church clock but they weren’t interested. Upcoming events turnout’. The New Zealand offi cer behind tower and exclaimed ‘kiss my naked ass!’ “We had been given such a tremendous me just told him where to go. “When we were liberated, all the reception by the Americans when they “I was in camp for 3 months. As soon as Dunkirk offi cers tried to take command liberated us, but my friend predicted when I arrived in early December, the Swiss Red and issued orders saying that no one we arrived in England we would be given a Cross interviewed me, took my particulars could leave camp and if they did so they packet of Woodbines and a cup of stewed and told my parents I was alive. They would be court-marshalled. tea – and we were. But it was home. received the message on Christmas Eve – “But we six Airborne offi cers found a “The British had set up camps to receive they had previously been told I was dead. little trolley that the Germans used to ex POWs and we all went to the camp “Conditions in the camp were very move potatoes about and walked out of cinema and the chap on the stage said diffi cult and after the war the Camp the camp. A Dunkirk offi cer at the gate ‘we will send you out of here properly Commandant was convicted of war tried to stop us but we said we are airborne dressed, but you have to go through 18 crimes for killing Russian prisoners. The troops and we’d just got information on stages fi rst.’ We were all dressed like Russian prisoners were starving and our secret wireless that the RAF are going gypsies and four hours later I came back 8-9 June 2019 21 September 2019 they had stolen some meat and hidden to drop supplies over the hill. ‘Oh good’ he with back pay, advance pay, battle dress Bomber Command Centre, Lincoln, UK Airborne Memorial, Ede, Netherlands it underneath the fl oor of their hut. One said and so off we went, dumping our little and so forth. It was about 8pm at night Two D-Day 75th anniversary outdoor concerts will include The Airborne commemorations at Ginkel Heath, Ede, start of the guard dogs found the meat so they wagon about half a mile away and then we when we fi nished, so my friend and I tributes to Vera Lynn, George Formby and Gracie Fields as at 9.30 am with the fi rst parachute drop at 10.00 am and the killed the dog. In future, when ‘testing’ a carried on to the local village and took over spent the night going around London. well as sketches from It Ain’t Half Hot and Dad’s Army. Food commemoration service at 11.00 am. The day’s activities end new guard dog, the Commandant would the pub, asking the woman running it for Every bar was full of Americans and available, but picnics welcome. Doors open 17.30 pm. See at 4.30 pm. www.airborne-herdenkingen.nl/en/airborne- take Russian prisoners out of the camp beer, bed and a bath. British and the drink was fl owing. website for full details: www.internationalbcc.co.uk commoration-ede/

John Waddy on the set of a Bridge too Far with Richard Attenborough

31 August 2019 20 September 2019 Liberation Ball, Mons Museum, Belgium Bridge to Liberation, Arnhem, Immerse yourself in the festive atmosphere of the balls of the Netherlands An experience in which music, special eff ects, fi lm and dance Colonel Waddy with children at a Liberation. Dress in vintage clothes and listen to the sound of commemorative event in the Netherlands Glen Miller and other post-war bands for a fantastic evening. intertwine to bring you personal stories at the time of the www.polemuseal.mons.be Battle of Arnhem. These moving stories are still very relevant today. www.bridgetoliberation.nl and let the dogs chase and kill them. “We were in pub for fi ve or six days! The As an advisor on the fi lm, A Russian prisoners were out looting and Bridge Too Far On being liberated getting their own back. But eventually we “I do NOT recommend that fi lm - it “Just before we were liberated, we knew heard we were leaving and were taken in turned out to be an American fi lm for that the Americans were nearby, as we’d American trucks to the American airfi eld American audiences. I was military heard on our secret radio and late one where there were Dakotas waiting for us. advisor, but neither I, nor Richard evening we could hear artillery fi re a “We fl ew to Reims, and were dumped Attenborough, were allowed to alter one few miles away. The next morning the there, but the Americans looked after word of the script. I did try to change Germans were starting to relax, so we us, put up tents and gave us food and one big scene, the one with Robert didn’t have to go into the huts and we we were told that the RAF would come Redford capturing Nijmegen bridge could hear the battle about fi ve miles away. and get us the next day. But the next day (rather than a sergeant in the Grenadier “Therefore we were all outside to see was D-Day and so the whole of Bomber Guards). A message came back from New 7-8 September 2019 24 December 2019 the American tanks come over the hill Command were drunk! So a day later York: ‘Tell the Colonel I make movies for Antwerp Liberation Days, Belgium Canadian War Cemetery, Holten, and roar past our camp and about an hour 80-90 Lancaster bombers came to get us money, not history. Besides I’m paying Come and see the Liberation Parade with 100 historic and Netherlands later on the church tower in the nearby and we had to squash 30 people into the Redford three million bucks’. Redford contemporary military and civilian vehicles, accompanied by Every year, school children place a burning candle at each German village, we saw the American bombers. I sat in the mid-upper turret was only with us for three days! Richard marching bands and actors on 7 September and attend the headstone. For many visitors, the fl ickering lights of the fl ag raised. I was standing behind an and it was a lovely May day. I saw the was very good to work with, although we commemorative ceremony in the Stadspark the next day. candles form an ambiance of silence and peace at a special American Air Force offi cer at the time white cliff s and clambered down and told disagreed about Ghandi...” www.visitantwerpen.be/en/bevrijdingsdagen2019 time of year. www.canadesebegraafplaatsholten.nl

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