I was over in Nijmegan, Holland, on Sep. 17th, 1984, jumping onto the very beet field drop zone that the 82nd Airborne had jumped onto, during Operation Market Garden, 40 years previously, during WW II. We met WW II Dutch commandos and the commanding general of the 82nd ABN DIV, Brigadier General "jumpin'" James Gavin, in a ceremonial lineup after the jump. He was the first paratrooper of the first "stick" to jump out of one of the planes that day. It was a jump to honor the men of that mission- the largest daylight airborne operation of WW II, that I participated in, and the most memorable of my career.
Anyone remember the book by Cornelius Ryan, A Bridge Too Far, and the movie of the same name? It was based on the military mission- Operation Market Garden. It didn't go so well for the British. They went in with 10,000 men, and came out with 2,000 men. Montgomery described it as a success.
