MEMORIAL FUND WHEELCHAIR PUSH

On Saturday 5th December 6 members of the Rugby club Chris Gryzelka, Mark Taylor, Bill and Menna Davies, Lee Marsden and Dave Fairchild are doing an 8 mile wheelchair push to raise £3500 to erect a memorial down at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire dedicated to the men of the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron and their comrades who were Killed in Action.

Brief

On 17th of September 1944 in an effort to shorten the War 10,000 men set off from England in the largest airborne operation ever launched, they flew to the town of Arnhem in Holland and landed by parachute or glider their task was to hold the Arnhem bridge for two days, until the ground forces of 30 Corps arrived to relieve them.
30 Corps never got there.
These brave men equipped with small arms and two days rations were to take on
2 Panzer Regiments who had been refitting in the area.
Instead of holding for two days they were to hold out for nine with lack of ammunition food and sleep, it was decided to evacuate the area,
Out of 10,000 men who landed 2,000 made it back to England. The rest were either Killed Wounded or taken prisoner.
Alan Wood Daily Express War correspondent was to write 24 September 1944
IF IN THE YEARS TO COME ANY MAN SAYS TO YOU
“I FOUGHT AT ARNHEM”,
TAKE OFF YOUR HAT TO HIM AND BUY HIM A DRINK,
FOR THIS IS THE STUFF OF WHICH ENGLAND’S GREATNESS IS MADE

Extract from A BRIDGE TO FAR by Cornelious Ryan
Leading the way (into Arnhem) would be a motorised Reconnaissance Squadron of jeeps and motorcycles. General Urquart was counting on Major Freddie Goughs highly specialised force of some 275 men in four troops- the only unit of its kind in the British Army – to reach the highway bridge and hold it until the main body of the Brigade arrived

The 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron were 275 strong
Now there are only 26 remaining the youngest is 86 and there is nothing anywhere to say that these brave men ever existed that is why we are collecting to erect the memorial so people can read about their sacrifices for years to come

THEY  WILL BE HAVING A COLLECTION AT HALF TIME FOR THE FUND WHEN THE KNIGHTS PLAY EXETER CHIEFS.