Operation Market Garden

[soulman101]

80 years a go this week , my Dad parachuted into Holland a fit man .
He came back injured man after losing a leg , he ways said he was one of the lucky ones a lot of his mates never come home

[Omegstrat6]

Our generation are now the last to have direct connection with those who served in either the Great War or WW2 but the bravery and sacrifices that your Dad and so many more made should not be forgotten.

My own immediate family were fortunate to be of an age when they were either too old or two young to see active service but plenty of uncles and aunts did. I've known veterans of both wars and count myself lucky to be of a generation not to have experienced the horrors that they did or the memories that they had to carry with them.

I know I'm younger than yourself, but even being born in 1961 the shadow cast by WW2 was still felt quite strongly growing up whether it was hearing (or more often not hearing) the war stories of relatives, the constant repeats of 50s war movies on tv or comics like Commando. I recently took our youngest to IWM Duxford and you look at those WW2 aircraft or the kit used by paras like your Dad and it really does help bring home something of the realities of what they experienced. They may not have had much choice in the matter, but brave young men and women indeed.

[mickd1961]

Our generation are now the last to have direct connection with those who served in either the Great War or WW2 but the bravery and sacrifices that your Dad and so many more made should not be forgotten.

My own immediate family were fortunate to be of an age when they were either too old or two young to see active service but plenty of uncles and aunts did. I've known veterans of both wars and count myself lucky to be of a generation not to have experienced the horrors that they did or the memories that they had to carry with them.

I know I'm younger than yourself, but even being born in 1961 the shadow cast by WW2 was still felt quite strongly growing up whether it was hearing (or more often not hearing) the war stories of relatives, the constant repeats of 50s war movies on tv or comics like Commando. I recently took our youngest to IWM Duxford and you look at those WW2 aircraft or the kit used by paras like your Dad and it really does help bring home something of the realities of what they experienced. They may not have had much choice in the matter, but brave young men and women indeed.

We can never thank enough men like your dad and my two grandads Lloyd.

My one grandad lied about his age to fight in WW1 at 16 years of age and my other grandad “swam” for his life at Dunkirk even though he never learned to swim!

I asked him how it made it out to the rescue boat and he just said that with bullets flying all around him he was thrashing so much he managed to stay afloat somehow!

The stress of that day was what the doctors thought brought on severe psoriasis with him which he then suffered with for the remainder of his life.

I’ll pass these stories on to my grandchildren but thereafter I think it disappears into the mists of time.

Well done your old man! 😎

[boingy]

My grandfather clearly had PTSD. He would sit for hours in the garden talking to no one. An angry man with a lot simmering inside. It wasn’t talked about then or even recognised the way it is now. Because I have CPTSD It was obvious to me. The same parts of the brain light up with childhood trauma as a soldier in combat. There are very similar responses.

[Dubbag]

Operation Market Garden was a disaster for British Paras dropped near Arnhem. No equipment as the drop was performed over two days. No proper working radios for communication. Lack of ammunition and in many cases the Paras were dropped far from the objective.
The link up with British armour was funnelled into one, one lane road from Eindhoven. Many had doubts to it succeeding but Montgomery felt it would end the war by Christmas 1944.
Arnhem became known as "The bridge to far"

[DaveP67 is back!]

And they were all mostly kids, we owe everything to those that went before and their sacrifices.

[Grand Wazoo]

I asked the old gentleman who lived next to my gran about the First World War that he was involved in. I asked him whether he ever actually came face to face with the Germans or was it a case of firing at them from a distance. And he said Oh yes, many a time we fought hand to hand in trenches and in the open. Then he went quiet for a few seconds and said: ''It's not a nice feeling having a man wriggling on the end of your rifle. He was wounded twice and spent a day and a night lying under an upturned cart before he was carried to safety. A generation like we will never know again.

[Dubbag]

I asked the old gentleman who lived next to my gran about the First World War that he was involved in. I asked him whether he ever actually came face to face with the Germans or was it a case of firing at them from a distance. And he said Oh yes, many a time we fought hand to hand in trenches and in the open. Then he went quiet for a few seconds and said: ''It's not a nice feeling having a man wriggling on the end of your rifle. He was wounded twice and spent a day and a night lying under an upturned cart before he was carried to safety. A generation like we will never know again.

What I find remarkable about WW1 is that when the order to go over the top, the soldiers were under strict instructions not to run, not to dive to the ground and to hold formation while walking across no-mans land under withering fire from the Germans who had survived the artillery barrage for days in their trenches. Any turning back or cowardice shown was dealt with harshly.

[Grand Wazoo]

What I find remarkable about WW1 is that when the order to go over the top, the soldiers were under strict instructions not to run, not to dive to the ground and to hold formation while walking across no-mans land under withering fire from the Germans who had survived the artillery barrage for days in their trenches. Any turning back or cowardice shown was dealt with harshly.

There was a sort of ironic sense to the order to walk not run as to get across several hundred yards in some cases carrying all your gear you would be too knackered to fight once you got to the enemy lines. The downside is you make a slow meandering target for the enemy. I don't know how those guys did it. First bullet or shell that came near me and I would be digging a hole deep enough to strike oil.

[boinggazmic]

Utrinque Paratus. Soz I came to this thread late as I’ve been away.been to funeral of an ex comerade of this very same regiment. My mate Ginge .ex 3 para buddy..Arnhem and Pegasus company..r.i.p. soz all I’m typing this a bit pissed.