Somerby Memorial Hall - Somerby

Inscription Reads

The Great War 1914-1918

Live Ye For England
For England We Died
[Names]

1939-1945
[Names]
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In this hall in September 1944 the 10th Battalion the Parachute Regiment was briefed for the Arnheim Landing from which so many did not return.

Remember for good, O God, all past and present members of this regiment.

A tribute from the Leicester branch of the 1940 Dunkirk Veterans Association and their friends, 1972

At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.
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10th Battalion The Parachute Regiment

This stone flower bowl was presented to the Somerby Village Hall Committee by Colonel George Widdowson OBE TD to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the 10th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment at Kabrit, Egypt in 1942.
The stone from which the flower bowl was made formed part of the embankment of the Neder Rhine, near Arnheim, close to the crossing point at which the survivors of the battle of Arnheim withdrew across the river during the night of September 25th to 26th 1944.
during renovation to the river bank the stones were removed and many of them formed part of the pathway at a farm close the Arnheim Oosterbeek War Cemetery. This was part of the 10th Para battle area. The owners of the farm Kees and Truus Hooyer, who are friends and hosts of the 10th para. Arnheim veterans, gave the stone for this purpose.
The craftsmen who did the stone masonry is a Leicestershire man, Mr Chris Hawes. He is the son of a former soldier of the Parachute Regiment.
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Photographs kindly submitted by A. Howe, 2018