OF THE LIBERATION OF HOLLAND 1944

BY MERVYN KERSH

Hell’s Highway and Market Garden were two of the main battles which led to the liberation and a rapid supply of food to the starving population.

Th is September, on the 75th anniversary of the action, twenty-two Veterans now all in their nineties, half from the UK, were brought to Holland as honoured guests, along with a carer each. I had my daughter, Lynne with me. Military medics were supplied as well as the volunteer committee.

We were wined and dined during the many commemorations, which included a cruise in Rotterdam with musical entertainment, and a football match in Arnhem which was dedicated to the Veterans. It culminated with a huge gala dinner with government ministers and military chiefs mixing freely.

Th ere were also visits to the concentration camp in Vught where one of the local guides invited me to spend the Sabbath with his family. We also visited the British Military Cemetery at Kleeve, Germany, where I laid an AJEX wreath. I had previously asked for vegetarian food but our hosts kept plying me with sealed Kosher meals.

Th ere was a reception at the Royal Palace and another at the Military Academy. We were introduced to many schoolchildren to make sure that the allied sacrifice for the Dutch Liberation will never be forgotten. They presented each of us with flowers and a personal note of gratitude which I shall always keep.

We watched as one on our number jumped out of a Dakota airplane by parachute to demonstrate that he could still do it aged 95. Another Veteran, a Briton, had a flight in a Spitfire.

The largest event was at the Arnhem British Military Cemetery at Oosterbeek with an estimated attendance of about 5,000 people. I again laid a an AJEX wreath and afterwards placed wooden Magen David markers at several Jewish graves. A visiting Israeli major chanted the Memorial Prayer and sounded the shofar.

It was a hectic ten days but one which will never be forgotten by the veterans, some of whom were brought from as far as Vancouver Island