Oz links to battle tribute

An Australian family attended an Arnhem commemoration event at the weekend.

They were at Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, in memory of a family member who knew many soldiers who fought at the Battle of Arnhem 64 years ago.

The Royal Dutch Army Band opened the commemoration weekend in the village with a concert in St Vincent’s Church on Friday.

On Saturday a gala was held on the village playing fields and in the evening a regimental dinner was attended by 147 people.

On Sunday morning, the band led a parade to the church service attended by veterans and some of the younger Dutch soldiers.

A member of the band played the Last Post and Reveille during the service.

A lunch afterwards was attended by around 250 people in the village hall.

Last year, Colchester-based 216 Signal Squadron performed a parachute jump in Caythorpe but they are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan so the jumps could not take place this year.

The squadron is the modern-day equivalent of the 1st Airborne Division, which was based at Caythorpe during the second world war and took part in the Battle of Arnhem in 1944.

Of the 11,000 paratroopers dropped over the Dutch town in a disastrous attempt to storm into Germany via Holland’s industrial heartland, fewer than 3,000 returned.

Mr Steve Atkins (52) was at the reunion with his mother, Mrs Evelyn Atkins (77) sister Miss Shirley Elms (54) and her fiance, Mr Owen Shirreff (53) from Melbourne, Australia.

His father, Corporal Raymond Atkins, who was known as Tex, served in the 6th Airborne Division from 1946-50 and kept in contact with many who fought at Arnhem with the 1st Airborne Division.

In 1967, the Atkins family emigrated to Australia and Mr Raymond Atkins began to email veterans in the UK.

He had always wanted to attend the Arnhem reunion weekend, but died in August 2004, aged 77.

His family wanted to make the journey in his memory.

Mr Steve Atkins said: “It was very emotional at the parade, especially as I was wearing my dad’s medals.

“It was great that they allowed me to be in the parade. The march was fantastic.”

Asked what he thought his father would think of their trip to the reunion, Mr Atkins said: “He would be so proud of us making the effort to do the trip.”

Mr Atkins said the main purpose of the trip to the UK was the reunion at Caythorpe and that their five-week holiday was then built around it.

Mrs Doreen Taylor, the chairman of the Arnhem committee at Caythorpe, said a lot of people attended this year to remember those serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I think, on some level, people felt that they were being supportive by attending the weekend,” she said.

“We are all thinking of them in the village. They know how much we care.”