The Bridge Too Far

One day we took the train and went to Arnhem. Mark wanted to go there with his dad, but since his dad (who is almost 89) only moves between his bed and his chair (and that with assistance), he decided to take me. It's only about a 40 minute train ride from Amsterdam, which made it an easy day trip.

Until I got there, I really didn't know much about the battle at Arnhem. In school we tended to focus on the causes and outcomes of wars, not individual battles. And apparently there are movies and books about this battle, the most famous being A Bridge Too Far. But I hadn't read them because they are "war" movies and books and I'd rather watch a romantic comedy or read a novel. So I arrived in Arnhem with no knowledge and no opinion.

This is what I learned: The Allies launched Operation Market Garden on September 17, 1944. Paratroopers (including my father-in-law) were dropped to secure key bridges and towns along the Rhine. Only a small force was able to reach the bridge in Arnhem but they took it and held it as long as they could. The Germans had them outgunned and outnumbered but they held the bridge for four days. Their reinforcements and supplies had been cut off. They had lost three quarters of their men, they'd run out of ammo and they had to retreat. (My father-in-law was one of the few survivors that retreated and then evacuated. - Aren't I the lucky girl??)

We took pictures so we could show Mark's dad. The first picture we showed him was of the church.

"Jesus God!" were the first words out of his mouth. We didn't have to tell him where it was. He knew. Mark showed him pictures of the bridge.

He told us where he was, nearly half way across, and how the bullets were flying everywhere and how he'd never been so frightened in all his life. (And by the way, this wasn't his first battle. He'd been injured in Tunisia. Half of his shoulder was blown off, he had some spine damage and shrapnel in his knee that remains to this day.) He could have sat out the rest of the war, but he didn't. After being sent back to England to recover (which took nearly a year), he was in Italy and after this battle he went in just ahead of the D-Day landing.

We got him to talk about the experience as much as we could. He told us how he joined the army when he was 15 by telling them he was 18. He told us how he joined the airborne because someone told him he wouldn't have to march anywhere and he thought that would suit him. He talked about his best buddy, Ronnie Moon and how they watched each others backs. But we came to the point where the memories of the dead bodies got the better of him. (He didn't know it, but we were recording him. At some point, we'll transcribe his story.)

Of course, the bridge you see here has been rebuilt. The original bridge was destroyed, as you might expect. The new bridge is named the John Frost Bridge, in honor of the British commander.

We also went down the road a bit to the neighboring town of Oosterbeek, home of  the Airborne Museum.That's where I saw this quote from a British war correspondent:

"If in the years to come any man says to you "I fought at Arnhem", take off your hat to him and buy him a drink for this is the stuff of which England's greatness is made."