Battle of Arnhem - Honours and Memorials

Honours and Memorials

Despite being the last great failure of the British Army, Arnhem has become a byword for the fighting spirit of the British and has set a standard for the Parachute Regiment. Montgomery claimed that "in years to come it will be a great thing for a man to be able to say: 'I fought at Arnhem'", a prediction seemingly borne out by the pride of soldiers who took part, and the occasional desire of those who did not to claim that they were there.

Within days of Operation Berlin, the British returned to a heroes' welcome in England. A list of 59 decorations was quickly published for the 2,000 men who had returned and an investiture ceremony for the division was held at Buckingham Palace in December. Decorations for the 6000 who had not returned were not published until September 1945 and numbered only 25.

Five of the British participants in the battle were awarded Britain's highest award for gallantry, the Victoria Cross. Four were members of the Airborne forces and one was from the RAF. They were:

• Lance-Sergeant John Daniel Baskeyfield, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment.
• Major Robert Henry Cain, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment.
• Lieutenant John Hollington Grayburn, 2nd Parachute Battalion.
• Flight Lieutenant David Samuel Anthony Lord 271 Squadron, Royal Air Force.
• Captain Lionel Ernest Queripel, 10th Parachute Battalion.

The British and Commonwealth system of battle honours recognised participation in fighting at Arnhem in 1956, 1957 and 1958 by the award of the battle honour Arnhem 1944 to six units.

After the liberation of Holland, the Grave Registration units of 2nd Army began the task of identifying the British dead. They were buried together in a field that is on permanent loan to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission just north of Oosterbeek. There are nearly 1,800 graves in what is now known as the Airborne Cemetery, ¾ of which are for those killed during the 1944 battle. By 2003, there were still 138 men unaccounted for and human remains, equipment and weaponry continue to be dug up in the farmland around the city.

In Germany, the battle was treated as a great victory and afterward no fewer than eight men were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The German dead were gathered together and buried in the SS Heroes Cemetery near Arnhem, but after the war they were reburied in Ysselsteyn.

The shattered Arnhem road bridge was briefly replaced by a succession of Bailey bridges before being rebuilt in the same style as the original. It was renamed John Frostbrug (literally John Frost Bridge) on 17 December 1977.

On 31 May 2006, HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred two honours on the Polish forces who fought at the battle. The Polish 1st Independent Airborne Brigade was awarded the Dutch Military William Order for gallantry and Stanisław Sosabowski was posthumously awarded the Bronze Lion. In February of that year, an appeal was launched to raise funds so that a memorial to General Sosabowski and the brigade could be erected. The memorial was unveiled in September 2006 in a ceremony that sought to undo the injustice of 1944.

The Hotel Hartenstein, used by Urquhart as his Headquarters, is now the home of the Airborne Museum. Several other memorials were built in Arnhem and Oosterbeek, and an annual parade is held in the area. A memorial near the museum reads: "To the People of Gelderland; 50 years ago British and Polish Airborne soldiers fought here against overwhelming odds to open the way into Germany and bring the war to an early end. Instead we brought death and destruction for which you have never blamed us. This stone marks our admiration for your great courage remembering especially the women who tended our wounded. In the long winter that followed your families risked death by hiding Allied soldiers and Airmen while members of the resistance led many to safety."