Hero still remembered 80 years on from WW2 battle

John Baskeyfield, known as Jack, is remembered with a statue at Festival Park in Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent

Commemorations have been held in The Netherlands this weekend to mark the 80th anniversary of the largest airborne assault in history.

Codenamed Operation Market Garden, the Battle of Arnhem took place in the closing months of World War Two.

Among the British forces was 21-year-old L/Sgt John Baskeyfield, known as Jack, who was born in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.

The assault however, ended in a failed attempt by the Allied Forces to capture a series of bridges in Nazi-occupied areas.

Thousands of Allied soldiers were captured or killed in the battle, which was later depicted in the film A Bridge Too Far.

L/Sgt Baskeyfield was posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross for his actions, single-handedly manning two anti-tank guns and refusing to leave his post despite being seriously injured.

'Courage off the scale'

A citation from his award read: "The fact that the surviving men in his vicinity were held together and kept in action was undoubtedly due to his magnificent example and outstanding courage."

He was killed during the battle by a shell from an enemy tank.

A statue now stands at Festival Park in Etruria, ensuring his bravery is permanently remembered.

Andrew Felton was one of those who travelled to Arnhem over the weekend to take part in the commemorations.

His grandparents were close friends with L/Sgt Baskeyfield, he said, and would often speak about what a lovely person he was.

“The more I look into it, the more it’s mindblowing what he and thousands of other troops did,” Mr Felton told BBC Radio Stoke.

“Lots of times I’ve thought, 'Crumbs, even now in my 50s, my life experience is nothing compared to that'.

“What most of us are like at 21, just the courage and humanity is off the scale.”

Two British soldiers killed in Operation Market Garden were laid to rest earlier this week with full military honours in the Oosterbeek war graves cemetery

Mr Felton said it was now well known that there were significant issues with logistics and supplies relating to Operation Market Garden, as well as problems with decision making from senior commanders, including an underestimation of the German firepower.

“They were massively against the odds almost from the moment they landed on 17 September,” he said.

He said L/Sgt Baskeyfield’s first gun had jammed, and he then suffered a serious leg injury, but nevertheless he dragged himself across a street in order to use another gun.

He then proceeded to take out two or three tanks, Mr Felton added.

He said it was important for him to participate in commemorations, to get an insight into what took place and to keep the respect and honour alive for the fallen soldiers.