Dear families and friends who hold the men of the 11th Parachute Battalion dear to your hearts. I am writing to you for a reason that runs deeper than words can ever fully express: to remember, to honour, to respect and to pass on.
In 2012, my book *Arnhem: Their Final Battle* was published, which I co-wrote with David Truesdale. It is a book about the history of the 11th Parachute Battalion. Not because the past is behind us, but because some stories must not be forgotten.
On 8 May 1944, the 11th Battalion moved to a pre-war barracks, ‘Welby Lane Camp’, in the British town of Melton Mowbray. They remained there until Monday 18
September 1944, when they set off for Arnhem as part of Operation Market Garden. The paratroopers in Melton have left a lasting mark on the town’s history. They transformed from a well- trained military unit into a valued part of the local heritage. Moreover, several marriages took place between the young paratroopers and the charming women of Melton Mowbray.
Yet there is a silence that speaks louder than any words. Within the 4th Parachute Brigade – with its parachute battalions, the 156th, the 10th and the 11th – it is precisely the 11th Battalion that still has no permanent place. No stone to touch, no bench to sit on or a commemorative plaque to pause by. No spot on the map where a family member can whisper: ‘He was one of ours.’
Think of those men; not as chapters in a history book, but as faces. Men who knew that courage does not mean being fearless, but that you jump anyway. For your comrades beside you. For a mission that is greater than yourself. For a freedom they were not sure they would ever experience, but which they hoped we would inherit.
That is precisely why the absence of a monument feels like an unspoken verdict, an open wound in our collective memory. As if we were saying: “We know your story, but we haven’t created a place to keep telling it aloud.” A monument does not have to be grand to speak volumes. It simply needs to be a place where silence can exist – where a flower can be laid, where children can ask: ‘Who were they?’, where we can reply: ‘They risked everything so that we might live in freedom today.’
Sometimes something great starts very small. Thus, together with Dr Jan Larder-Davis, the daughter of Corporal William Ronald ‘Bill’ Larder (11th Bn), her husband William and my own wife Johanna, the idea arose to erect a monument to the 11th Parachute Battalion in Melton Mowbray. Not out of mere formality, but from a deep conviction that these men deserve more than silence and oblivion.
After all, behind every regiment there are people. Young men with plans, with families, with friends – with lives that were once quite ordinary. That is precisely why we want to create a place where their presence remains palpable, where you do not merely read about ‘history’, but realise: these were real lives.
Would you like to help us keep this memory alive? If you have a photograph, a name or a story – however small – about one of these men from the 11th Battalion, please send it to gerrit@rememberthexith.org. We have also started setting up a website: www.rememberthexith.org. A financial contribution towards a lasting memorial to the men of the 11th Parachute Battalion is therefore invaluable. Together, we can ensure that they are not forgotten, but live on in our memories and those of future generations; a monument to the 11th Parachute Battalion in the United Kingdom. Will you also help to keep the memory of the 11th Parachute Battalion alive?
Thank you very much! Gerrit
Lieutenant-Colonel (retired) Gerrit Pijpers OBE
