PREVIEW

Pictured: The Princess Royal stops to speak to Parachute Regiment mascot Pegasus V handler at the memorial service.

Today (22 September 2024) a memorial service was held at Oosterbeek War Cemetery to commemorate all those who gave their life and fought in Operartion Market Garden during WW2. In attendace was the Princess Royal, HRH Princess Anne and the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Roly Walker amongst senior representatives from Poland and the Netherlands.

HRH The Princess Royal has attended a service honouring the brave soldiers who lost their lives 80 years ago during the Battle of Arnhem.

The Airborne Memorial Service is held annually at Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, the final resting place of more than 1,750 allied troops from the 1st Airborne Division and the Polish Parachute Brigade.

Today, HRH The Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Second World War veterans, their families, and members of the public gathered to pay their respects to the heroes of the Greatest Generation.

The service was preceded by a procession with musical elements provided by British Army Band Catterick and standard bearers from the Parachute Regiment Association and the Royal British Legion.

The order of service, unchanged since it was designed by Commander of the 1st Airborne Division Major General R. E. Urquhart in 1945, included readings by British Army padres, wreathlayings, and the Last Post and Reveille.

A local schoolchild for every fallen soldier laid to rest in the cemetery quietly entered the cemetery and placed flowers on each grave. The ‘flower children’ tradition was initiated in 1945 by Father Dijker and was intended to bring a touch of colour and life to the then barren and sandy gravesites.

The Royal Netherlands Air Force then conducted a flypast with three historic aircraft.