I was able to take a hike with fellow travelers guided by a local, Hank, who’s passion project is uncovering and keeping alive the historical interpretation of Operation Market Garden in The Netherlands. Below is a photo essay of an experience I do not want to forget.
This is Hank. A local Dutch veteran who’s passion is the retelling of World War II. Specifically as it relates to Operation Market Garden near Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Our first landmark is Mook War Cemetery to help set the tone for our hike. Hank let us take in the graves and tombstones of Canadian soldiers, some as young as 16 years old.
322 Canadian soldiers are buried in Mook War Cemetery. Local families adopt grave sites in an effort to keep tombstone well maintained and to visit and pay respects to each young man.
Detail of a soldiers memorial with the insignia of their regimen etched into the stone.
Seven Pilots Pond
As Hank describes, seven U.S. airmen’s remains were recovered from this pond in 2020. It is estimated that their plane was shot down in 1943, and after 70+ years submerged in this pond, they were found while workers were doing maintenance in the area. This photo best demonstrates how after seven decades their remains were camouflaged under the reflections on the surface of the water.
Hank points out one of many German bunkers that line the roadway were paratroopers traveled and suffered the fate of war in allied troops efforts to liberate the region.
This plaque embedded into the wall of this fourth-generation brick farmhouse memorializes the lives of seven airmen who lost their lives in the fields of their family farm during Operation Market Garden.
