Market Garden Commemoration
By September 1944, Allied forces had successfully broken out of their Normandy beachhead and pursued shattered German forces across Northern France and Belgium. Although Allied American commanders generally favoured a broad front policy to continue the advance into Germany and the Netherlands, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery proposed a bold plan to head north through the Dutch Gelderland, bypassing the German Siegfried Line defences and opening a route into the German industrial heartland of the Ruhr. Initially proposed as a British and Polish operation codenamed Operation Comet, the plan was soon expanded to involve most of the First Allied Airborne Army and a set piece ground advance into the Netherlands, codenamed Market Garden. Market being the air operation and Garden being the ground operation codenames.
Every year this battle is rememebred in the Netherlands on the Ginkel Heath. When the chance orrcured and they would be in Holland, I used to meet up with veterans: Colin Reynolds, Arthur Letchford, Roman Figiel, Antoni Szulakowski, Donald G. Malarkey and Lew Kemp to name but a few. They sadly passed away. I will remember you even more on this day.
