Tag: Battle of Arnhem

Kate Ter Horst the ‘Angel of Arnhem’.

During the ill-fated Operation Market Garden (17-26 September 1944) the British 1st Airborne Division suffered heavy casualties fighting in the Dutch city of Arnhem, the town of Oossterbeek, the villages of Wolfheze and Driel. Kate Ter Horst, described as a housewife and mother, turned her house into a makeshift hospital for the wounded and dying. She personally helped 250 wounded soldiers and gave comfort to the dying by sitting with them until they died and earned the nickname ‘The Angel of Arnhem’ and was later depicted in the film ‘ A Bridge Too Far’.
In 1947, despite extensive mine clearance after the war her eldest son Peter was killed by an undetected anti-tank mine. On 21 February 1992, 98 year old Kate Ter Horst MBE died after being hit by a car near her home.

The unknown Para who saved a Dutch family during the Battle of Arnhem

Albert Willingham was living in Drayton Hampshire before enlisting into the Dorset Regiment.

After volunteering for Airborne Forces and successfully passing selection and parachute training he was posted to Headquarters Company 10th  Battalion The Parachute Regiment and in September 1944 was killed in action during the Battle of Arnhem. It took 74 years for  his bravery and self-sacrifice to come to public notice.

Private Albert willingham

According to Dilip Sarker (Arnhem 1944: The Human Tragedy of the Bridge Too Far, published in 2018)

 Whilst under enemy fire Willingham managed to drag an injured officer to a cellar which was full of wounded Airborne soldiers and around twenty Dutch civilians hiding from the fighting. After German forces started clearing  surrounding buildings a stick grenade was thrown down the steps to the cellar and landed in front of a young mother, Mrs Bertje Voskuil and her 8-year-old son Henri. Without hesitation Private Albert Willingham showed a total disregard for his life as he stood between the grenade and the young family to shield them from the blast and was killed.

Bertji Voskuil
Henri Voskuil