THIRTY-one Scottish pupils joined hundreds of Dutch children in laying flowers at the graves of the fallen heroes of the Battle of Arnhem.
Each clutching a single rose, they were among the children applauded by onlookers during yesterday’s service. The Scottish contingent were from Annan Academy in south-west Scotland and aged 14 to 17.
In September 1944, the ill-fated Operation Market Garden saw more than 10,000 Commonwealth and Polish troops drop by parachute or glider at Arnhem, with 1500 killed and more than 6500 captured.
Each year since, local children have joined services of remembrance for the tradition of laying flowers at the graves of the heroes who fought for the town’s liberation.
Teacher Jamie Brand, 45, said the school has been visiting Arnhem for more than 30 years due to the King’s Own Scottish Borderers regiment recruiting from the area during the war.
He said: “There’s never ever been an occasion when we didn’t have a young person who has a relative who is either buried [here] or survived after the Battle of Arnhem.”
Brand said each pupil was given an envelope with a soldier’s story inside that they were encouraged to read when they found his grave.
“As this battle slips from living memory, it’s very important to look at the big moral questions that surround actions like Arnhem,” he said.
He added it was important to “acknowledge what our forebears have done and the sacrifices that they made”.
Also at the memorial was a Battle of Arnhem veteran, who took a dram of whisky to the grave of his friend during an emotional first return to the Netherlands in 75 years.
Sandy Cortmann, from Aberdeen, paid tribute to his former comrade, Private
Gordon Matthews of the Parachute Regimen.
The 97-year-old former paratrooper has become the star of a week of commemorative events marking the 75th anniversary of Operation Market Garden after he took part in a tandem parachute drop with the Red Devils. Cortmann was just 22 when he parachuted over Arnhem in September 1944 and survived German capture.
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