Arnhem

 Arnhem in The Netherlands has a great World War II museum.  It is the location of part of the biggest airborne drop in history and a very sad story that is unfortunately one of the results of war.  The people in this town welcomed the Allied Forces arrival hoping to find relief from the German occupancy they were experiencing.  But there were two tanks divisions hidden here and so the the allied efforts were unsuccessful.  Even though this town was practically destroyed by this operation the citizens honor those who gave their lives in an effort to free them.  It was touching to read all the first person accounts from the locals here.

As just a part of this museum, there is a live size diorama, or as they called it an "experience", in the bottom floor of the museum.  Where you are briefed on the mission and then you walk right onto a plane like you are one of the jumpers.

 You come off the plane and see the mission from a troopers point of view.

 Here is the outside of the plane we "jumped" from.

 As I mentioned before the mission went from hopeful to not so positive, quickly.

 They couldn't drop right into the town and most of the planes carrying the jeeps crashed so they had a long walk ahead.

 Once they got into town and discovered the tanks they found themselves out numbered and out gunned.

 The Allies were stuck here for 9 days and all their supply drops through that time was being captured by Germans.

 It was an amazing story.  Honestly it was a little much for Emma and Jane, but the boys ate it up.

 The movie "A Bridge Too Far" tells this story well, just incase you are a little far from Arnhem and can't make it to the actual museum and monuments.

 The big kids.

 Philip

Jane

 The whole museum is in this old hotel.  This is actually the location of the Allied Headquarters during the mission.  Each year the locals have a march through town and honor all those lost in the mission.