17 November - Tribute to Four Brave Aussie Pilots - Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Arnham

The highlight of today was to visit the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Oosterbeek, some 5k to the west of Arnham. I was interested in visiting the cemetery, but particularly so because it is a little known fact that amongst the almost 2,000 graves of British paratroopers and airmen of the British 1^st Airborne Division, were the graves of four brave Aussie Pilots. My real mission was to visit their graves, and to pay my own silent tribute to them for their sacrifice, bravery and courage under severe difficulties.

I rolled away from the Hotel Haarhuis at about 9:45am, for the fairly easy run to Oosterbeek. I arrived first at the 1^st Airborne Museum, the former Hotel Hartenstein which was taken over by the Commander of the British 1^st Airborne to be used as his Command headquarters. The museum is a superb living memorial to the men and women of not only British 1^st Airborne Division, but also the US 82^nd and 101^st paratroop Divisions, all of whom were involved in Operation Market Garden from 17-25 September 1944.

The Airborne Museum is situated in beautiful grounds, which on the day of my visit were stunningly carpeted in rich bronzed leaves from the effects of late autumn. I enjoyed taking time to go slowly through the museum, which is as much a tribute to the residents of Arnham and Ooosterbeek as it is to the Allies who paid the supreme sacrifice in Operation Market Garden. The entire population of Arnham, some 150,000 people, were evacuated and became homeless refugees. Many were not able to come back to their homes for many years. When they did, Arnham was completely destroyed, not just from the failed Operation Market Garden, but the final Allied thrust some months later, both of which required devastating bombing of the city and the homes of the population.

It was difficult to leave behind the magnificent ‘Hotel Hartenstein’, the beautifully restored Airborne Museum, but I rolled the bike about 2-3k to the beautifully maintained Commonwealth Cemetery in another part of Oosterbeek. It was everything you would expect a Commonwealth War Cemetery to be. Rows of lovely white head-stones set in an attractive rural setting.

Operation Market Garden was the brainchild of Field Marshall Montgomery, of the British Army. In the weeks following the successful DDay landings in Normandy, the Allied advance was stalled by stiff resistance by the German Army along the Siegfried line that ultimately defended the German border with Belgium and France. ‘Operation Market Garden’ was to seize a series of bridges that crossed the Meuse and Rhine Rivers, and various other canals, in order that the massive numbers of Allied armoured units could have a straight run through and into the Ruhr industrial area of the northern Rhine region of Germany. The ultimate aim was to bring the war to an end by Christmas time.

The ultimate bridge was the bridge crossing the Rhine River (the ‘Waal”) at Arnham. The Operation involved the largest air-drop of paratroopers in all of history. It was an utter failure for a number of reasons, the main one being the failure to take and hold the ultimate bridge – at Arnham. What the British failed to recognize from the reconnaissance photographs and reports, was that the crack 2^nd SS Panzer Corps was hiding in the forests around Arnham and Oosterbeek, recovering from the DDay battles. The paratroopers landed amongst them.

The famous movie ‘A Bridge Too Far’ depicts the history and outcome of this significant Allied failure. Several hundred of the 1^st British airborne were able to take the northern end of the bridge, and hold it for many more days than expected, but because they were not reinforced in time, they failed to hold it. The campaign was an embarrassing and costly failure.

Of the almost 11,000 paratroopers who landed in and around Arnham, only a mere 2,300 or so made it back. The remainder were either killed or taken prisoner.

Among them were a handful of Aussies, mostly pilots who flew with the RAF, but as part of their RAAF service. Four of these brave young men are buried at Oosterbeek, where they would have lost their lives. I already had their names from research I did before I made the trip. Finding their graves was no problem. In a lovely kind of way, they were buried in pairs of two graves. To pay tribute to them, it is worthy to list their names:

            Flight Sergeant (Pilot) Bruce Llewellyn Williams, Age 21 (grave 21/C/13)

            Pilot Officer Thomas Lennie, Age 31 (grave 21/C/12)

            Pilot Officer Keith Willett, Age 29 (grave 29/C/3-4)

            Pilot Officer Reginald Davis, Age 27 (grave 29/C/3-4)

When you read the history of Operation Market Garden, there is little if any mention of the Australians. The pilots were especially brave. One British pilot continued to fly the plane eventhough the wings were burning, to ensure that the last of the paratroopers were able to leave the aircraft. His plane crashed. He too is buried along with the Australians.

It was lovely to linger, to take endless photographs, but I knew the moment had come for the final act of tribute. Part of me didn’t want to part with it. It had flown faithfully behind me all the way from Frankfurt. It had shared the mud and the rain, the cow manure and the wind, faithfully following wherever I went. It was my means of identification of my nationality, a conversation starter and a friendship maker.

I am embarrassed to admit that even when taking the long walk back to the bike to retrieve my token of ultimate tribute, my eyes were filled with tears. How silly is this – a lone Aussie cyclist a long way from home, alone in a remote cemetery yet feeling something of the emotion of those loved ones, the ‘sisters and mother’ as it says on PO Thomas Lennie’s head-stone. Those mothers never saw their boys again, never had a chance to say a final goodbye, never really knew of the courage their Aussie boys displayed in the minutes and seconds before their planes brought their lives to a sacrificial end.

I didn’t really want to part with my companion, but I knew at the same time that I brought it for precisely this purpose. With my trusty flag in hand, I made the long walk back again, knelt in the wet soft ground of the final resting place for these four young countrymen, and pushed my flag deeply into the soil. It looked resplendent, lightly fluttering into life between the graves of Flight Sergeant Bruce Williams (age 21) and PO Thomas Lennie (age 31) – the youngest and the eldest.

Someone, a child, had been there before me. How long before I could not know. It was a simple cross made of thin ply. It said “Holy Spirit Primary School” and “Thank you for dying for our country” and signed “Charlie”. Who was Charlie? Another Australian perhaps? I may never know.

As I walked away for the final time, I could not resist a last look over my shoulder. I paused long enough to see again the slight flutter of the flag in the gentle breeze, as if to say these boys have gone, but the memory of their example and courage under fire is something that continues to have life.

I rode away, turning the bike in the direction of the village of Ede, some 15k to the north west, conscious now of the silence from behind in the absence of my companion, yet comforted knowing that a lone Aussie flag will stand as a reminder to the constant visitors that among the British, American and Polish boys who served gallantly in ‘Market Garden’, our Aussie boys were there too.

Lest we forget.