Para Sandy in toast to hero friend
A BATTLE of Arnhem veteran 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 former comrade Private Gordon Matthews, of the Parachute Regiment, after the memorial service yesterday.
The 97-year-old former paratrooper has become the star of a week of events marking the 75th anniversary of Operation Market Garden after he took part in a tandem parachute drop.
Sandy, who was 22 when he parachuted over Arnhem in September 1944, was congratulated after his jump by the Prince of Wales.
During the fighting at BY TOM PILGRIM PUPILS from a Scottish school have joined hundreds of Dutch children in laying flowers at the graves of the fallen heroes of the Battle of Arnhem.
World War II veterans and their families joined a crowd of thousands for a 75th anniversary commemoration service at Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery yesterday.
In September 1944, the illfated Operation Market Garden saw more than 10,000 Commonwealth and Polish troops drop by parachute or glider at Arnhem, with 1500 killed and 6500 captured.
Each year since, local kids have attended services of remembrance, laying flowers at the graves of the heroes who fought for the town’s liberation.
Thirty-one pupils from Annan Academy aged 14 to 17, each clutching a single rose, were among the children applauded by onlookers at the service.
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