99-year-old Arnhem veteran lays last wreath during commemoration at British cemetery

99-year-old Arnhem veteran Geoff Roberts laid the last wreath at the British cemetery in Oosterbeek on Sunday. Roberts, who fought in the Battle of Arnhem during Operation Market Garden in 1944, concluded the wreath-laying ceremony at the monument at the cemetery to minutes of applause.

The wreath layings were part of the so-called Airborne Memorial Service, which this year marks the 80th time that the Allied soldiers who died during Operation Market Garden are remembered. British Princess Anne attended the ceremony in Oosterbeek and laid the first wreath.

Representatives from Poland, Canada, the United States, the British Royal Air Force, and the Dutch Commando Corps also laid a wreath. Several hundred schoolchildren from the area also laid flowers at the graves in the field of honor, which is officially called the Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery.

Princess Anne recited a passage from Psalms 91 during the ceremony. In a short sermon, British pastor Gavin Smith quoted Dutch Kate ter Horst, who spoke "words of comfort" to Allied soldiers who had been wounded in the Battle of Arnhem during World War II. Ter Horst, who died in 1992, was also known as the Angel of Arnhem for that reason.

During the memorial service, prayers were said in English, Dutch, and Polish. In addition to more than 1680 British soldiers, almost eighty Polish and three Dutch soldiers are buried at the British cemetery. They died in the Second World War while fighting around Arnhem, Ede, Driel, and Oosterbeek.