300 U.S. paratroopers jump in Dutch WWII commemoration

Updated with video of the event. Thanks to reader Henk for emailing us the YouTube link. About 300 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division landed in the hills at Groesbeek near Nijmegen this morning. The paratroopers jumped in exactly the same location where the drop zone of Operation Market Garden was 70 years ago. On September 17th 1944 tens of thousands of allied paratroopers landed at Groesbeek and Ede to capture the bridges over the main rivers from the German occupiers. There was a large amount of interest in the para dropping. The 70th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden has received more public interest than was expected. "We thought at the 50th anniversary that the enthusiasm would diminish rapidly. The opposite is actually the case: every year there are more visitors and more people who want to organize something." says Mayor of Nijmegen Hubert Bruls. There will be para droppings in a number of locations this week. The biggest one will be Saturday in Ede where more than one thousand paratroopers will land on the Ginkelse Heide.