British paratrooper's body found in Holland 68 years after battle of Arnhem

The Telegraph, September 18, 2012

The body of a British Second World War paratrooper has been recovered in Holland, almost 68 years to the day after he was killed in action during the battle of Arnhem.

The soldier fell at Ginkel Heath on September 18, 1944 as 2,300 paratroopers from the 4th Parachute Brigade of the 1st Airborne Division landed amid fierce fighting between the Germans and the 7th Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers.

The body was recovered from a field grave on Monday after it was discovered by a local man with a metal detector. Two hand grenades were found near the body.

Geert Jonkers, the head of the Dutch Army's "recovery and identification" unit, said the soldier was likely to be a member of the 4th Parachute Brigade and could be identified as early as next year by military dental records.

"There is no doubt that it is a British soldier's remains," he said. "The key to identifying him will be his teeth and he has an almost complete set. But sometimes the dental records were binned and not attached to the service records of missing men. We still need luck."

The unit commanded by warrant officer Jonkers works to identify between 30 to 35 bodies discovered in Second World War field graves every year. Two thirds of the bodies are usually identified as German soldiers. Around 140 British soldiers are still missing from the battle of Arnhem, including the bodies of 12 paratroopers killed in action at Ginkel Heath.

Next week hundreds of parachutists, watched by dozens of veterans, will relive the Ginkel Heath drop as part of the annual Battle of Arnhem remembrance ceremony.

Niall Cherry, the secretary of the Arnhem 1944 Fellowship, an organisation founded to keep alive the memory of the sacrifice made by Allied soldiers and local members of the Dutch resistance during the battle, said the find was a poignant one as veterans travel to Holland for commemoration ceremonies next week.

"It's wonderful news that he has been found at this time of remembrance. Let us hope he can be identified and his next of kin of notified," he said.

The paratroopers and 1st British Airborne Division had received orders to secure the bridge over the River Rhine near Arnhem as part of Operation Market Garden in September 1944, an attack conceived by Field Marshal Montgomery to bring the war to an early close.

Despite early successes, the British unexpectedly found themselves up against the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions, leading to one of the most devastating and bloody battles of the war, portrayed in the popular 1977 film "A Bridge Too Far".

After nine days of fighting between 17 and 25 September 1944, and running out of food and ammunition, British forces were overwhelmed and forced to withdraw. An estimated 1,700 British soldiers lost their lives.