VVAM Newsletter 35 – 1989

SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OF THE AIRBORNE MUSEUM OOSTERBEEK
Utrechtseweg 232,6862 AZ OOSTERBEEK, The Netherlands
Representative in Great Brtitain:Mr.F.Young, 6,Kildown Gardens, Cliftonville, Kent CT9 3EG
NEUSLETTER No 35 Editor:Drs.R.P.G.A.Voskuil
JULY 1989 . Translation.’Mrs.A.Meeuwsen

With this newsletter you will find,as usual, the programme for the yearly commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem in September. This year’s programme shows some changes,especially on Saturday.September 16th.
Major-General J.D.Frost MC,DSO,will be the leader of this year’s Pilgrimage.He was Commander of the 2nd Parachute Battalion in September 1944.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem.Because of this, an extra large number of pilgrims is expected.Added to this.there will be a large number of veterans who will be returning to Arnhem and Oosterbeek for the first time since 1944.
We are happy to be able to announce that the Health Insurance Company “Het Zilveren Kruis”,after consultation with our member Mr.C.van Roekel.has again offered to fund the travel expenses for ten disabled veterans to come and attend the commemoration.
Second excursion to the Betuwe.
After Consulting the two leaders of the excursion,Messrs.Margry and Maassen, the date for this second excursion has been fixed for Saturday,September 30th. As there were more than one hundred applicants for the first excursion,this second excursion is already fully booked and no new applicants can be accepted. The programme for this second excursion will be the same as for the first one, see Newsletter No.34.
At the request of a number of our members.application for further excursions will also be possible by payment via a bank.instead of only by giro. We also plan to inform applicants by letter whether they have been booked for a first, or for a second excursion.
Two 40th Anniversaries.
This year sees the 40th anniversary of both the Airborne Museum and the Society for Geography and History of Renkum Municipality.The boards of trustees of the two institutions will hold a joint reception on September 22nd, 1989, in the “De Zalmen” tea-room of Doorwerth Castle.
At the same time a joint booklet will be published which describes both the growth of the Society and the start and development of the Airborne Museum. The booklet contains about 45 photographs and will be published in a limited edition. It will cost ƒ 10,-.
Exhibition “The Netherlands Resistance and the Battle of Arnhem.”
On Friday,April 25th,this exhibition was officially opened by Mr.Piet Nieuw- straten. Mr.Nieuwstraten is an ex – resistance fighter and is now chairman

Mr.Nieuwstraten opens the exhibition about the Resistance by means of pressing the button of an old radio transmitter-receiver. (Photo:B.de Reus.)

of the Committee which handles the Information about the work of the Resistance,especially with an eye to the young Dutch people.
Among those present were the mayors of Arnhem and Renkum,the Polish miliary attaché,It-colonel Bohdan Sienkiewicz.and several representatives of the local resistance-groups of the war-years.
In his speech,Mr.Nieuwstraten called the Airborne Museum a window to history. At this moment there are still eye-witnesses among us who can teil the story of those terrible times, but the time will come that they are no longer here to do so and that is why the Museum plays an important part to keep the story alive.
The Resistance Movement has done much valuable and also dangerous work.Many members did pay for it with their lives. Their efforts and their offers must never be forgotten.
The exhibition has attracted many visitors.
In memoriam Lieutenant-Colonel S.C.A.N.Bishop QBE.
Lt-Colonel Bishop died quite unexpectedly in his home in Camberley on June 8th. He was 68. For 13 years he was Controller of the Airborne Forces Security Fund at Aldershot.and as such he was responsible for the organisation of the yearly remembrance service in the Airborne Cemetery at Oosterbeek He was assisted in this task by Mr. J.Rudolphie.
In 1941 Lt-Colonel Bishop fought with the East Surrey Regiment in the Peninsula against the Japanese After the fall of Singapore,he became a prisoner-of-war and was transported to Thailand ,where he had to work on the infamous

“Railway of Death”.
After the Second World War he joined the Parachute Regiment till he left the active service an began to work for the Airborne Forces Security Fund. Three years ago he handed over the post of Controller,but he remained a trustee of the Fund.
Lieutenant-Colonel Bischop was known an an incorruptible.extremely hard working, but above all an- unpretentious man.lt is typical of his character that he wanted to be cremated privately and that he wanted people not to send flowers but to donate their money to the Airborne Forces Security Fund.so that others can be helped.
Author comes to sign new book in September.
Some weeks ago a book appeared in England called “Ready for Anything,The Parachute Regiment at War 1940-1982”, by Julian Thompson.
In this book the author describes the “birth” of this Regiment in 1940 and the most important military operations in which the Regiment was involved,such as Bruneval,Northern Africa.Sicily.Normandy,Arnhem,the Ardennes.Germany (“the Rhine-crossing”),Java,Palestine,Egypt,Cyprus,Suez,Southern Arabia,Borneo, Northern Ireland and,finally,the Falklands.
About two thirds of the book is occupied by the Second World War,the chapter about the Battle of Arnhem is the longest in the book.
Julian Thompson,who served in the Falklands conflict,describes the course of the various operations in a very readable style,he analyses situations and decisions in a very clear way.He has made use of nonpublished reports and he has also interviewed many veterans.
Julian Thompson will come to Holland in September in order to attend the commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem.On Friday.September 15th and on Saturday, September 16th, he will be present in the Airborne Museum for a couple of hours to sign copies of his book which will then be for sale.
“Ready for Anything.The Parachute Regiment at War 1940-1982”, runs to 365 pages and has been illustrated by maps and photographs.The book has been published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in London. The price in England is £ 14.95, the price in Holland is not yet known.
Request from the treasurer.
In order to prevent misunderstandings and delays,you are requested to address your questions and remarks about financial matters solely to the treasurer, Mr. R.Fennema, Benedendorpsweg 150,6862 WP.Oosterbeek. tel. 085-333406.
Re-burial of soldiers in the Airborne Cemetery.
On April 12th of this year a service took place in the Airborne Cemetery,during which four soldiers were re—buried whose bodies had been discovered in the one-time battlefield during the last two years.
One of the bodies,which could not be identified.was that of a soldier who was killed near Bergen in Limburg in February,1945.He belonged to the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry DiVision.
The other three were killed during the Battle of Arnhem One of them could not be identifiedjit is known that he belonged to the Royal Engineers.His body was found West of the Old Church in Oosterbeek.
In that same place the body was discovered of Alfred E.Johnson of the 2nd Battalion,the South Staffordshire Regiment. He had been missing since September
The body of the fourth man was found near Ginkel Heath.He was identified as William J.Allan.10th Battalion,the Parachute Regiment.He had been missing since September 18th,1944. Relatives of both soldiers Johnson and Allan had been able to come to Oosterbeek to attend the moving service wich was led by the Reverend F.Preston MBE,
a former chaplain.The tombstones will presumably be placed on the graves in the spring or summer of 1990.

Member for life from America.
We received an application to become a member for life from Mr.T.G.Terrell from Woodbridge,Virginia,USA.
Exhibition in Pieter Reijenga School.
In 1982 our member Hans van der Velden from Renkum held his first exhibition of material he had found on the former battlefields around Arnhem with the help of a metal-detector.
This year he will repeat this exhibition in the Pieter Reijenga School on Satur- day.September 16th,between 10.00 and 17.00 hrs.
The “Society of Friends of the Museum of Army Flying” in Middle Wallop.
The military Airfield of Middle Wallop lies about one hundred kilometres SW of London.on the edge of Salisbury Plain.During the Second World War it was a well known British nightfighter base. In 1957 it became the Headquarters of the new “Army Air Corps”,caused by the joining together of the Glider Pilot Regiment and the Air Observation Post Squadrons.
Now we find there the magnificent “Museum of Army Flying”. Much room and attention has been given to the history of the Glider Pilot Regiment. The exhibition contains.among other things.the fuselage of a HORSA glider,a complete WACO/HADRIAN glider and work is being done to restore part of the fuselage of an enormous HAMILCAR glider.
Since about two years there is now a “Society of Friends of the Museum of Army Flying”,which supports the Museum in various ways.
People outside Great Britain who are interested in this Museum,now also can become members of the Society.They will receive Information about the museum as well as the Society’s Newsletters. The subscription is £ 5 a year. Information can be obtained from the Membership Secretary,Mrs. V Somerton- Rayner.Thatchways, Quarley nr. Andover, Hants SP11 8QB,England. tel.: 0264-88331.
Foundation “Sympatia Poland-Holland” seeks support.
In September 1985,two members of the Committee Driel-Poland.attended the unveiling of a plaque in remembrance of the First Polish Independent Parachute Brigade.
This ceremony took place in Czestochowa in Poland. They were struck by the fact that there were many young people present.especially many members of various Polish Scouting groups.
That manifestation gave rise to the idea to promote an exchange between young Poles and young people from the Arnhem region.This resulted in the “Foundation Sympatia Poland-Holland”,the aim of which is”to continue and further the bonds of friendship between those Polish and Dutch people who feel bound together as a result of the events during the Battle of Arnhem in 1944.”
The Foundation tries to reach this aim by means of:l) bringing together representa— tives of the young people of both countries by means of mutual visits; 2)by enlarging the knowledge of each other’s country and culture; and 3) by keeping alive the interest in the history of the Battle of Arnhem and especially in the part played by the Polish troops.
However.the Foundation is still young and does not yet possess the means necessary to give the right continuity to its plans.lt is true that various institutions have been asked for help.but the Foundation hopes that help will also come from many members of the public. Supporters of the Foundation will receive the News- sheet “Gazetka”,which will appear twice yearly.
If you want to help the Foundation and are prepared to donate the yearly sum of at least ƒ 15,-,please contact one of the persons listed hereunder:
Mr. A.J.M.Baltussen.Chairman.Bennekomseweg 90,Renkum.tel.08373-16619
Mrs. M.E.Scholten.Secretary-treasurer, Prins Bernhardlaan 74, Bennekóm tel. 08389-19354.

Download nieuwsbrief