VVAM Newsletter 17 – 1985

NEWS-LETTER No.17 February 1985

Editor: Drs.R.P.G.A.Voskuil
Dutch-English translation: A.G.Meeuwsen

5th Annual General Meeting.
You are invited to attend the 5th Annual General Meeting of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum, on Saturday, March 30th, 1985, at 14.00 hrs in the Concert Hall opposite the Old Church on the Benedendorpsweg in Oosterbeek ( tel.085-332046 ).
The agenda reads as follows:
1. Opening.
2. Minutes of the 3rd General Meeting of March 24th, 1984.
3. General Review 1984.
4. Financial Review 1984 and Budget 1985.
5. Election of a new Committee Member.
6. Appointment of reserve-member of financial committee.
7. Proposals of the Committee with regard to:
a. Increase of subscription for 1986.
b. Nomination of Honorary Members.
8. Questions before closing of meeting
9. Closing.
Information with regard to point 5: It is Mr.R.Fennema, our treasurer’s, turn to retire from the Committee. He is, however, eligible for re-election. According to art. no 8 of the regulations, members can pose other candidates for this post. These candidates must be proposed to the Committee by at least 10 members for each candidate. Candidates must be prepared to take up this post, they must be a member of the Society and be of age. Proposals must be submitted in writing and have reached the Secretary 10 days before the date of the meeting.
Information with regard to point 7: The Committee proposes to increase the subscription for 1986 to £ 5 for a normal membership. The subscription for veterans remains £ 1.
Members can peruse the financial papers and the report from the financial committee 30 minutes before the start of the meeting.
The Financial Review and the Budget for 1985 will be sent to all members with the next Newsletter.

Video-films after the Meeting.
After the Meeting two video-films will be shown which were made in connection with the commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem.
The first film is called “Return to the Cauldron” and was made by BBC-Wales.
Several .veterans contributed to the realization of this film, together with our Dutch member .J.Berendsen.
The second film was made by German Television and shown in the program “Aktuelle Stunde”.

Annual Report, 1984.
During 1984 the number of members increased considerably: on December 31st, 1984, the Society had 713 members, in Holland and abroad. On December 31st, 1983, the number was 556. It is a pity, however, that we had to cancel 22 memberships in 1984 owing to the fact that these members did not pay their subscriptions.
Four Newsletters appeared in 1984 and we organised both a Special-Subject Day and a Special-Subject Afternoon. Participants in the Special-Subject Day took two walks, one in the area around the Westerbouwing and one in the area between the Old Church and the Drielse Veer (Driel Ferry). Two lectures were given on the Special-Subject Afternoon: one about British gliders and one about British war-correspondents during the Battle of Arnhem. Both events were a great success.
On occasion of the 40th commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem a commemorative envelope with a special postmark was issued. Members of the Society received one envelope free, the rest of the envelopes was sold very quickly.
A pastel-drawing by the artist Johan Paulus Pieters was made into a poster. The sale of this beautiful poster was a great success.
There was also much interest for the guide-booklets. This initiative by Mr.van Roekel has proved to fill a gap in the market.
During 1984 the Society was present with a propaganda/sales stand at five different events. Much propaganda was made for the Museum and the Society. The sale of arti¬cles resulted in the sum of 6600 Dutch Guilders.
The Museum also received some gifts, among which a glass show-case and a dip-swit¬ches for the diorama’s.
The Society made a gift of its bronze statuette to HRH Prince Bernhard and to the Generals Urquhart, Hackett and Frost.
1984 has been a propitious year for the Society, we hope that 1985 may again increase the interest in the Museum and in our Society.

Direction of correspondence.
With a view to a quick dispatch of your correspondence, you are kindly requested to send your letters regarding the Society to: The Secretary, the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum, Utrechtseweg 232, 6862 AZ, Oosterbeek, the Netherlands. Correspondence with regard to the Newsletter should be sent to Mr.C.van Roekel, at the same address.

Pastel-drawing by Johan Paulus Pieters.
In our last Newsletter we wrote about the drawing by the Arnhem artist Johan Paulus Pieters. The envelopes of this year’s Newsletters will show a reduced picture of this drawing.
In May 1985 ( the commemoration of the Liberation of the Netherlands ) the Society will issue a commemorative envelope, again with a picture of this drawing, together with a special postmark.
There is still a small number of posters of this drawing available in the Museum
Life-membership.
The other day we received the fourth application for a life-membership. It came from Mr.J.A.Bartie from Lydney in Great-Britain. The other three life-members are: Mr.A.J.Hollingdale, Mr.R.Bingley and Mr.L.Oleszczuk, all from Great-Britain.

Airborne wine: great succes.
In the spring of 1984 the Ede wine buyers Rijsemus and De Frei introduced bottles of “Airborne Wine”. This wine was sold with a rise of f 0,25 per bottle The sum total of this rise, f 2250,- was handed over to our Society on ThursdayDecember 13th, 1984. Needless to say that we are very happy with this wonderful result The money will be used for the aquisition of material for the collection of the Museum.

Jhr.Mr. H.G. van Holthe tot Echten, Mayor of Renkum Municipality thanks Brigadier-General D.E.Canterbury for the Christmas tree given by the Army Air Corps, (photo: B.de Reus)

Army Air Corps donates Christmas Tree to the Municipality of Renkum.
On Friday, December 21st, 1984, Brigadier-General D.E.Canterbury, Territorial Commander of the British Army Air Corps in West Germany, donated a Christmas tree to the Municipality. The tree is a Serbian spruce-fir with a height of 2 meters. It was planted to the West of the Oosterbeek Council building and it symbolises the gratitude of the Army Air Corps towards the civilian population of the villages of the Municipality. The Army Air Corps originated from the former Glider Pilot Regiment. More than 1200 glider pilots of this Regiment participated in the Battle of Arnhem.
The donation of this Christmas tree was the symbolic conclusion of the 40th com¬memoration of the Battle of Arnhem. Mr. McAnelly laid the contacts for the idea of the donation.

Mr.Patten donates his battle-dress to the Museum.
During the past 40th Commemoration, Mr.Norman Patten from Parkstone in Dorset donated his original battle-dress, complete with emblems, badges and decorations, to the Airborne Museum.
In September 1944 Patten was a sergeant with the 1st Forward Observation Unit, a unit of observers for the Second Army artillery. When on September 21st, 1944, the Forward Observation Unit in Oosterbeek had not been able to contact the Army Corps Artillery near Nijmegen, Patten climbed the chimney of the Van Hofwegen laundry. Thus he succeeded in getting radio contact and obtained the necessary fire-support from Nijmegen for the encircled British troops in Oosterbeek.

Installation of dip-switches for the diorama’s.
The other day dip-switches were installed in three diorama’s in the cellar of the Museum. Thus a somewhat dimmed illumination was obtained which matches the real situation in the Hartenstein cellars in September 1944. This effect has even more been heightened by installing small spots, like candle-lamps and small bulbs near the radio apparatus. Aquisition of the switches was made possible by a donation from our Society.

Book: “The Red Devils, From Bruneval to the Falklands”, by G.G.Norton.
Edited by Lt-General Sir Brian Horrocks this book is a comprehensive single-volume history of British Airborne Forces with well over 100 photographs and illustrations. Accounts are given of airborne actions fought by the British Army from Bruneval to North Africa and from Normandy to Suez and the Falklands. The story is told of the development of the parachute assault and the use of glider-borne troops which can be followed from their infancy to the massive coup de main technique employed in the Rhine Crossings.
The aircrews, air despatchers and units who flew, maintained and supported them have not been forgotten. Included in the text are histories of 38 Group RAF, Air Resupply together with the origins and developments of the SAS and post war Airborne Territorial Army units.
Major G.G.Norton when Second-in-Command of Airborne Forces Depot established the magnificent Airborne Forces Museum in the Browning Barracks in Aidershot in 1969. Thus he is well qualified to tell this unique story (and indeed to update) his best¬selling well-illustrated Regimental history which is aimed at the general public as much as the old and bold.
Please note that this book was originally published in 1971 as part of the FAMOUS REGIMENT series. It has now been substantially expanded to cover the period 1970-1984. Royalties from sales are shared and assist with the upkeep of Airborne Forces Museum. The book has 320 pages fully illustrated with Itaps and photographs. Normal retail price £ 12.50. NOTE: Price to members of the Parachute Regiment Association: £ 10.50 ( +99p for P&P ) direct from the publisher, Leo Cooper, 190 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2 8JL.

Interesting booklet about the building of fortifications along the Veluwe border.
After the failure of the Battle of Arnhem practically the whole of the Southern border of the Veluwe was evacuated by order of the German occupying force. During the following eight months nobody was allowed to enter the area without special consent. As the Germans assumed that the Allies would again launch an attack across the river Rhine, enormous fortifications were built along the Veluwe border, complete with trenches, machine-gun nests, artillery positions and mine-fields. As the Germans did not have themselves enough labour force, large groups of Dutch men were rounded up and forced into doing this work. These man were housed in camps and empty buil¬dings. One of these buildings was the Baptist Home for Aged Persons, called “Mooi- land” on the Utrechtseweg between Oosterbeek and Heelsum, from which the inhabitants had been evacuated in October 1944. The history of “Lager Scharhorst ID” as the building was then called, has now been written by our member, Dr.H J Leloux from Oosterbeek. In his book “Huize Mooi-Land in herfst en winter ’44-’45 Lager Scharn- horst I»” a description is given of life in the labour camp and the work on the^or- tifications in the empty and desolate villages and woods along the Veluwe border The booklet has appeared in a very limited edition and can be bought in bookshops in Oosterbeek and Heelsum. Price: f 15,- ( Only Dutch edition available ) P

Wanted: photo’s of Oosterbeek.
Messrs. G.H.Maassen Sr. and Jr. are Oosterbeek in 1945. They still need Oosterbeek. I” ‘
of the compilers, please contact Mr. G.H.Maassen, the Netherlands.

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