☰Airborne Monument Ede

On the broad heathland of the Ginkelseheide, just east of Ede, two monuments mark the spot where around 8,000 British and Polish paratroopers of the 1st Airborne Division landed on 17 and 18 September 1944 at the start of Operation Market Garden. The drop zones are still open heathland — a simple, affecting place to stand. Every September, on the weekend closest to the anniversary, hundreds of veterans, re-enactors and spectators gather here and a commemorative parachute drop is made over the heath, with military vehicles, period music and an outdoor service of remembrance. Outside that weekend the site is quiet and largely unmarked, which makes it oddly more moving.