Parachutists commemorate historic airborne operation

When British veteran Charles Grocett first saw the Ginkelse Heide, a piece of heathland near Arnhem, he was a 18-year-old paratrooper dodging enemy fire on Saturday he was back to commemorate the failed operation Market Garden, the largest airborne and glider operation in history.
"I was dropped here in this same place. It was not good, there were fireballs coming at you because the Germans were waiting for us," he recalled.
On Saturday more than 50,000 spectators gathered on the heather-covered land to see several hundred parachutists commemorate the day when almost 10,000 British, American and Polish paratroopers were dropped near Arnhem in the largest airborne and glider operation in history in a bid to occupy bridges and waterways from Belgium to Arnhem to open the way into Germany for the allied tanks.
"When we saw all the parachutes and planes it was like an endless flock of birds covering the sky," said 70-year-old Jaap, who saw the Allied landing when he was just a boy.
On Saturday eight British veterans, all well into their seventies and eighties, recreated the jump they made 60 years ago from a Dakota plan, the same type used during World War II.
Grocett, dressed in a blue navy uniform and red beret, was in Ede for the 7th time to commemorate the battle on the Ginkelse Heide he had never seen so many spectators.
Thousands of people were still arriving during the jumps on bicycle or on foot from the surrounding villages. Spectators from outside the region were brought in by dozens of buses.
"It's nice to see that people are still interested," he said.
The crowds looked on Saturday as some 600 Dutch, Czech and British paratroopers were dropped from vintage aircraft.
Joanka Huitema, a 28-year-old mother of two, said she had always come to the commemoration as a child and now took her own children.
"It is nice for the kids to see but it is also important to commemorate World War II," she said.
"It puts things into perspective that so many people lost their lives for our freedom," Joanka's 56-year-old father Johan Dekens, added.
Operation Market Garden was a daring strategy conceived by British General Bernard Montgomery designed to let Allied troops sweep through The Netherlands in a surprise push towards Germany.
The aim was to defeat the Nazi military machine and end the war before the close of 1944.
The bold operation failed partly due to bad planning and partly due to an unexpectedly strong resistance from German SS Panzer divisions.
Of the 10,000 paratroopers dropped over Arnhem, more than 1,700 were killed, 3,000 were wounded and 2,000 were able to return to allied ranks. The remaining troops were captured by the German forces.