Return to Arnhem for the pluckiest Para of all... at 97
Veteran’s daredevil jump for 75th anniversary of battle
IN 1944, in one of the riskiest and most courageous missions of the Second World War, a young Sandy Cortmann parachuted into the Dutch town of Arnhem – his arrival marked by the chatter of enemy machine guns and boom of mortar shells.
Yesterday, with a bravery undiminished by the passing of more than seven decades, the 97-year-old Scot repeated his epic jump. Hailed by the cheers and applause of thousands who had gathered to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem, Mr Cortmann performed a tandem parachute jump from thousands of feet up.
Describing the drop as ‘thoroughly terrifying’, he said: ‘When the door opened I thought: “Christ, what a way down!”.’
But he conceded the jump during the war had been even more nerve-racking, saying: ‘We were just a bunch of young lads out for a good time if you like, but it turned out rather terrifying in the end when the guns and mortars and things opened up. They were all aimed at us.’
A former paratrooper from Aberdeen, Mr Cortmann was just 22 on September 17, 1944, when he dropped behind enemy lines as part of Operation Market Garden, a bold but ill-fated plan to bring the war in a Europe to a swift end.
Back then, his last thought before jumping behind enemy lines was: ‘Those bloody Germans, we’ll see the buggers off.’
Yesterday the Prince of Wales, Colonel-inChief of the Parachute Regiment, shook Mr
‘You just heard bangs and machine guns’
Cortmann’s hand and offered his congratulations after he landed. Although just three years shy of his 100th birthday, Mr Cortmann has vowed to do it again next year.
The former paratrooper was one of 1,500 veterans and serving soldiers who took part in the commemorative parachute jump with the Red Devils Army Parachute Display Team to mark the 75th anniversary.
One of the largest airborne operations ever attempted, Operation Market Garden saw around 35,000 British, US and Polish troops parachute or glide behind German lines in an ambitious attempt to open up an attack route for allied forces.
They seized bridges and canal crossings at Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem, but came under heavy German counter-attack. More than 1,500 allied soldiers were killed and nearly 6,500 more captured around Arnhem.
The failed offensive was immortalised in Richard Attenborough’s 1977 Hollywood war epic A Bridge Too Far, which starred Sir Sean Connery, Robert Redford, Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine.
At yesterday’s commemorations, Prince Charles held a salute as a lone bugler played the Last Post. Veterans were helped to stand, some holding hands, as a minute’s silence was observed.
Wearing the maroon beret of the Parachute Regiment, Prince Charles laid a wreath during the service with the handwritten message: ‘In everlasting remembrance, Charles.’ Before his tandem jump with the Red Devils, Mr Cortmann relived the experience of fighting in Arnhem. ‘When the fighting started we were just in among it,’ he said. ‘You can describe it as brave – you thought you were brave – but once you got down there... Jesus Christ, terrified, absolutely terrified. ‘You just heard bangs and machine guns. I didn’t understand what that was all about.’ Allied soldiers had been parachuted in to secure bridges on the Dutch and German border, with the expectation of being relieved within 48 hours. But many of them ended up having to fight for nine days straight.
Earlier in the week, Mr Cortmann and his fellow veterans had visited the graves of fallen friends. ‘I’ve always wanted to go back to Arnhem and see the graves, and say hello to the gang,’ said Mr Cortmann. ‘I often think about them, the lads who didn’t come back.’ One of Mr Cortmann’s former comrades, Gordon Matthews, was killed instantly by a mortar shell during the ill-fated operation at Arnhem. The old soldier now reflects: ‘As far as I know a mortar bomb landed at Gordon’s feet and, boom, blew Gordon to bits.
‘I wanted to come back, I wanted to see Gordon’s stone so I could look at him and speak to him and just say, “Hi, pal” and think about him for a wee while.’
This evening Mr Cortmann, who lives at Fairview House Care Home near Aberdeen, will be at a cocktail party with veterans and Prince Charles.
He trained for his parachute drop by walking up and down the hallways with a frame and doing knee-lifting exercises.
Care home worker Alana Davidson said: ‘I never realised how much of a hero he was.’