WIREDGOV

As the 65^th anniversary of Operation Market Garden approaches, Second World War veterans from across the nation have been awarded Big Lottery Fund grants to return to Holland and the battlefields of Europe and beyond to commemorate those that lost their lives.

The latest round from the Big Lottery Fund’s Heroes Return 2 programme has awarded over £640,000 to allow more than 400 veterans, along with their widows, spouses and carers to commemorate those that didn’t make it home from the battles that shaped the outcome of the Second World War.

Over the next few days many of those funded by the programme are preparing to return to Holland to pay their respects in Arnhem. The visits will commemorate the 65^th anniversary of Operation Market Garden (17-25 September 1944), a battle later immortalised in the classic film A Bridge Too Far. Other veterans have received funding to attend anniversaries within the countries they served in, including Egypt, Germany, France, India, Malta, Italy, Greece, Sri Lanka and Kenya.

The Lottery funded trips will allow the veterans heading to Holland, most now in their mid to late eighties, to return to where they served their country as part of the largest airborne operation of all time. Operation Market Garden saw 30,000 British and American airborne troops flown behind enemy lines to capture the eight bridges that spanned the network of canals and rivers on the Dutch/German border.

One veteran that has received funding to return to Arnhem is Mr George Barton from Slough, who will be 90 years old next month and joined the army in 1940 aged 20. In September 1944 George was part of the first wave of troops who went into Holland in the days leading up to Operation Market Garden.

He explains: “I was part of the 1^st Air Landing Brigade in the 7^th Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers. We came over on a glider and were one of the first to land and our job was to clear the ground before the parachute regiments came in.”

George was a Sergeant in charge of two anti-tank guns and in the week leading up to Market Garden on the 17^th September was involved in many gun battles with the Germans to secure ground up until he was captured and taken as a prisoner of war.

“The anti-tank gun I was looking after at the time was hit by a tree that fell on it from above and put it out of action. I went off to tell my Colonel what had happened and by the time I came back all my men had gone – I didn’t know where they were. We hadn’t eaten probably for days, so starving, I went off looking for food. I found a green grocers shop but it didn’t have any food left in it but it had a cellar and in it were sacks and sacks of apples. Having gorged myself on apples I must have fallen asleep, because we hadn’t slept for days either, and the next thing I knew I woke up and there were three German soldiers in the cellar looking at me.”

George was captured by the Germans and held in various prisoner of war camps. On 2^nd April 1945, which was Easter Monday that year, the camp he was in was liberated by the Americans and after a few days in hospital he was flown back to England with American troops.  Over the years George has made many trips back to Arnhem but he thinks this will be his last trip back.

The Heroes Return 2 programme has now awarded over £4.1 million, allowing more than 3,000 veterans to go on the commemorative trips. The programme is funding veterans, spouses, widows and carers to mark overseas anniversaries throughout 2009 and 2010 to help them pay their respects and return to the places served in the Second World War.

Peter Wanless, Chief Executive, said: “Thanks to this funding ex-servicemen across the nation, along with their spouses and carers, will be able to renew friendships, relive and share past glories and tragedies and pay respect to fallen comrades. A huge debt of gratitude and recognition is owed to these men and women and I am delighted that we are able to remember their bravery and heroism through the Heroes Return programme.”

The Big Lottery Fund has already supported veterans through its Awards for All small grants programme funding over £178,000 to support anniversary trips this year.

Launched to mark the historic 60^th anniversary of D-DAY in 2004, BIG’s first Heroes Return scheme awarded £16.6 million to over 39,000 veterans, spouses, widows and carers to fund commemorative visits to Second World War battlefields, cemeteries and other significant places across the world.

Heroes Return was the centre-piece of the Veterans Reunited programme including Home Front Recall which awarded £19.2 million to support UK-based group events and activities to commemorate those who contributed to the war-effort on the home front, and Their Past Your Future with an ongoing £9.6 million scheme funding a UK-wide schools and education programme to give young people the opportunity to learn first-hand from veterans about their experience of war.

Further Information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572

HEROES RETURN 2 HELPLINE: 0845 00 00 121

Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659

Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to editors

• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out half the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £23 billion has now been raised and more than 317,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
• Heroes Return £17 million scheme provided funding to Second World War veterans, their wives or husbands, widows and widowers and, where required, their present-day carers to visit the overseas areas where the veterans saw active service.  By linking with activities funded through the Their Past Your Future scheme, Heroes Return is also helping to give young people a better understanding of the efforts and sacrifices made by veterans.
• Home Front Recall provided grants of between £500 and £20,000 for regional and local projects across the UK in 2004-2005 that commemorated the events of the Second World War and the contributions of different groups in society.  The scheme funded a very wide range of projects including special community days; reunions and exhibitions; recordings of the experiences of those who lived through the War; plays and pieces of creative artwork. In addition, the scheme funded a number of national grants to organisations such as the TUC to fund a range of commemorative activities.
• Their Past Your Future is an ongoing UK-wide schools and education scheme to give young people the opportunity to learn first-hand from veterans about their experience of war. The Big Lottery Fund is working closely with the Imperial War Museum and the museums, libraries and archives sector UK-wide to help young people to research and learn about the personal experiences and roles played by forces personnel and civilians. Competitions have enabled schools to take part in World War Two related visits with veterans. The Imperial War Museum has a website (www.theirpast-yourfuture.org.uk) with a wide range of resources for schools to use and details of projects delivered by museums across the UK.