WHAT A LIFE!
Heroic veteran of the Battle of Arnhem
Early years
WILf OLDHAM, who has died aged 101, fought in the disastrous battle vividly brought to life by Richard Attenborough’s film A Bridge Too far. He joined up in 1940, after leaving school in Bury at 14 and working in a bleach factory.
Two years later, Wilf was serving in a glider battalion. ‘I was a bit nervous,’ he admitted. ‘I’d never even been on the top deck of a bus, let alone a plane.’ He fought in North Africa and Italy, where he survived a horrific crash. His glider smashed into the Mediterranean and he spent eight hours in the sea before help arrived.
The bridge too far
THE 1944 plan, known as Operation Market Garden, was simple. Allied troops would sweep through Holland, cross the Rhine and invade northern Germany. famously, it didn’t work that way: the Germans trounced us. Wilf’s airborne force landed in Germanoccupied territory as part of the plan to capture eight vital bridges. His target: the bridge at Arnhem. His orders: hold the bridge for 48 hours to allow the main invasion force to cross.
A tense encounter
WILf’S company landed by glider and marched to the river, where they were told to capture a ferry on the opposite side.
Wilf’s job was to cover the boat with his machine gun. After two tense hours, the ferry began to cross the river towards them. Wilf and his comrades feared the worst, but the Germans on board put their hands up in surrender. That early success didn’t last. By the following day, British troops — including Wilfred — were ordered to withdraw.
Flight to safety
WITH the Nazis threatening to surround them, Wilf’s unit was ordered to escape under cover of darkness. Under heavy mortar fire, he managed to reach the river bank again only to find one small boat — and 400 men trying to get aboard. He and a dozen comrades set off down the riverside.
‘Just what we were supposed to be looking for,’ he later recalled, ‘none of us knew.’
They were in luck. What they found was a boat and four oars.
Rowing furiously, they were washed a quarter of a mile downstream and reached the safety of the opposite bank. ‘What a sorry state most of us were,’ Wilf recalled. ‘No wash, no shave, no food, no rest.’
Two days later, he was on a plane home.
Remembrance days
SERGEANT Oldham married his sweetheart Jessie after the war, worked in textiles, and began regular trips to Holland, meeting old comrades and visiting the grave of his schoolfriend Norman Manchester. In 2019, he was awarded the MBE for services to Anglo-Dutch relations.