Arnhem 70th Anniversary Visit. A lot of you have been asking why I was in Arnhem. My Dad fought in the battle and was trying to reach his brother-in-law, my uncle John Frost (played by Sir Anthony Hopkins in A Bridge too Far) when he was wounded after capturing a hill just west of Arnhem. Heres the story of my visit... On September 18th, after casting my vote in the referendum, I travelled to Glasgow then flew over in the afternoon to Amsterdam. It was interesting to remember that 70 years ago to the day my father had flown from UK to Holland and then parachuted down onto Ginkel Heath. That evening I journeyed on to Apeldoorn where I joined Dutch son-in-law Ben Hagameijer, grandson Aidan and foster grandchild Roman who has both German and Polish grandparents - four of us representing the main nations involved at Arnhem! The next day we caught a bus to Arnhem where we were met by Hans Polman, son of one of the two brothers who rescued my father. He drove us to Oosterbeek where we met up with other descendants of the rescuers - Joyce Polman and Malu Peters as well as about 30 children and parents from Wardlehampton School in the New Forest. Titus Mills the head teacher at the school then led a walk where we followed the story of what happened there to 156 Battalion of the Parachute Regiment on September 19th 1944. Titus is an excellent story teller and it was great to see the children so engaged as he told inspiring stories about Captain Paddy Kavanagh who inspired the character of Bigwig in Watership Down, Colonel John Waddy and then of my father who was leading A Company. My father led the charge through the German defences with huge loss of life as he sought to gain the top of Lichtenbeek Hill. Titus told this incident which I always find especially moving. This is how Sgt Sheldrake later described what happened… “I was with another two lads and we were all in a bad way. Major Pott said he couldn’t take us with him but he put us carefully under some bushes. He said the battalion might make a fresh attack, and we could be rescued, if not we would be picked up by the Germans. Before he moved off he stood there and prayed over us for a couple of minutes although there was mortar and machine gun fire. A couple of minutes is a long time to stand in those conditions. It is something I shall never forget” This what he prayed: I am sorry that I have only led the company to death and pain; but remember there is another Commander Who is ‘The Way, the Truth and the Life’, and I am committing you into His hands as I leave you now. Lord Jesus watch over them, please.” We then all walked up to the top of the hill and on the way I got a chance to start talking with Joyce and Malu. The top is an amazing place with a mound with steep sides surrounded by a circle of tall trees and with room for us all to gather. Here Titus told us the rest of the story. Amazingly we were there at precisely the same time that this had all happened around 2:30 on September 19th 1944! After briefly telling how my father lay wounded for 18 hours and was then rescued by the Dutch resistance, he introduced who we all were - he had previously asked us not to reveal our identities. As you can imagine people were very surprised! I then spoke and then read out the following to Hans, Joyce and Malu… Thank-you 70th anniversary of the rescue of John Pott at the Battle of Arnhem 19th September 2014 It is a very special pleasure to meet you here today and because it is very significant for me and my family, I decided to prepare this brief document for you so that you would know how grateful we are that your ancestors rescued my father here in this place seventy years ago. Five years ago on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem, I was able to come here for the first time with my son Joel. I will always remember it as one of the best days of my life. We had traced the route my father had taken with his company from Ginkel Heath before walking up here as we read a description he had written of the assault and then the capture of Lichtenbeek Hill against incredible odds. We were able vividly to imagine what took place as my father with his few survivors repulsed one German attack but were then overrun in the second attack. My father was wounded in three places and the one in his right leg meant that he was unable to walk. The Germans took his other soldiers away, but he was left there. That was at about 2:30 on the afternoon of 19th September. We reflected on the long hours that he lay there. He fully expected to die there so he attempted to write a farewell letter to my mother. The long night followed. And then the next morning, after at least 18 hours lying here, the miracle happened and your ancestors found my father and arranged for his rescue. He would not have survived another day. My son sat down with his guitar and sang his beautiful song “Black Swan Song” and in this environment of a natural cathedral it was a truly sacred moment. My father was a deeply committed Christian and we share that conviction that his rescue by your ancestors was an act of Divine Providence. My father was an only son and both his parents died while he was a teenager. if he had died here 70 years ago that would have been the end of the Pott line. But thanks to your ancestors he lived to father first me then my three brothers. He and my mother then enjoyed the arrival of nine grandchildren and nine great grandchildren before they died. We are so grateful that because of this wonderful rescue we can have family photos like this one to share with you. It is a special joy to me, as it was to my father, when Ben Hagemeijer here who is Dutch was married in 1995 to my eldest daughter Katie, so that happily Dutch blood flows in his and my descendants also! So today it is a very big thank-you to you for your family which allowed my family to exist as it does today. David Pott 19/09/2014 *** As well as giving them copies of the above I gave them some Walkers shortbread biscuits from Speyside where my parents lived. It was a very moving occasion. The descendants had never been to Lichtenbeek Hill before and they had not heard the story told from the other side. I also shared something that happened when my father was sent to a German military hospital just over the border. He found himself in bed next to a German officer called Werner von Elfring who had been wounded fighting on the Russian front. The two of them played hours of chess and became lifelong friends. Werner left the hospital two days before my father escaped (on crutches!) and the Gestapo went straight to Werner’s house suspecting his involvement because others reported their friendship. The phrase that occurred to me was This was where the war was one. Waging peace in the name of the Prince of Peace was a deeper reality for my father than the agonising choices he had to make as a professional soldier. On the next day we went to see the parachute drop at Ginkel Heath. It was extraordinary to see 40,000+ people there. Where else do so many commemorate each year a defeat rather than a victory in such a way with this profound sense of gratitude and friendship towards the local people? It reminded me of Calvary which of course also appeared to be a defeat but which was a crucial part of an ultimate victory. After Arnhem the Dutch suffered an awful winter but at last in the next spring came liberation and the hope of a new beginning. Mist delayed the parachute drop until 2:15pm but it was worth waiting for and Aidan got a great photo as they dropped out of the Dakota against a wonderful golden lining at the edge of the clouds. As they floated down to the heath, a kestrel hovered in front of them like a living fluttering Parachute Regiment badge - the perfect ending to our experience!
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 20:53:51 +0000
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