WARRINGTON resident Margaret Shaw has just returned from the annual pilgrimage to Arnhem to commemorate Operation Market Garden – the failed attempt to take and hold the bridge at Arnhem in World War 2.
Margaret, from Latchford, along with other Warrington and Widnes residents, went with the Arnhem Veterans Merseyside party.
Her father, Frank Collopy, a lifelong resident of Latchford, served with the first airborne division during the operation – which inspired the film “A Bridge Too Far.”
A medic, he was taken prisoner while caring for 14 wounded soldier and the served the war out at the infamous Stalag XIB prisoner-of-war camp at Fallingbostle, Germany, until the camp was liberated in May 1945.
He died in 2007 but Margaret is determined to keep the commemoration trip going until at least 2019 which will see the annual gathering mark its 75th anniversary.
Our pictures show local people who took part in the pilgrimage and also Margaret with Arnhem resident Alex De Groot who lays flowers and candles at graves he has adopted – including that of Margaret’s father.
The annual trip celebrates friendships forged between North West soldiers and the Dutch people during World War 2.
