Still standing together: U.S.-Dutch partnership carries Market Garden legacy forward

NIJMEGEN, Netherlands — “In 1776, you stood with us. In 1944, we stood with you. And in 2026, we still stand together.” U.S. Army Maj. Nicholas M. Chopp delivered those words during the John R. Towle commemoration in Oosterhout, Netherlands, on Sept. 21, 2026. His words captured a relationship that stretches across 250 years and took on new meaning during Operation Market Garden. Across several days of commemorations, Americans and Dutch citizens returned to the bridges, streets, fields and memorials where Allied forces fought in September 1944. Current U.S. Soldiers stood alongside Dutch veterans, students, descendants and local residents who continue preserving the stories of the Americans who helped liberate their communities. One of the earliest chapters in that relationship began Nov. 16, 1776. On the Dutch island of St. Eustatius, Fort Oranje returned a salute to the Continental vessel Andrew Doria, which flew the flag of the Continental Congress. The exchange became known as the First Salute. Nearly 168 years later, Americans and Dutch citizens added another chapter. Allied forces launched Operation Market Garden Sept. 17, 1944. The 82nd Airborne Division landed around Nijmegen and Groesbeek to secure critical terrain and crossings. On Sept. 20, paratroopers crossed the Waal River under heavy fire and helped Allied forces capture Nijmegen’s bridges. The 2026 commemorations followed much of that same ground. At a church in Groesbeek, Dutch and American guests gathered for the First Encounters commemoration near fields where thousands of 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers landed on Sept. 17, 1944. Chloe Gavin, daughter of Maj. Gen. James M. Gavin, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division during Operation Market Garden, asked younger generations to consider what those paratroopers faced when they arrived. “I would like people to understand how frightening it was and what courage it took to just parachute in here, hit the ground and start fighting,” Gavin said. Retired U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Ken Holden returned to Groesbeek to honor his grandfather, Pfc. Kenneth R. Holden, who jumped into the area with the 82nd Airborne Division. “This ceremony is about remembering the greatest generation and the gift of liberty,” Holden said. “This very village was liberated on 17th September 1944, and they've never forgotten that.” Holden said preserving that connection requires bringing young people into the story as the generation with direct memories of the war disappears. “Unfortunately, that link to the greatest generation is being lost every day,” Holden said. “My objective is to reinvigorate that memory, by working with children in high school.” That responsibility appeared throughout the commemorations. At the Lock Bridge in Heumen, Dutch residents and U.S. Soldiers honored seven American paratroopers who lost their lives during fighting in the area. In Beek, students from Basisschool De Biezenkamp continued a tradition that passes responsibility for caring for a local liberation monument from one class to the next. “There was so much fighting here in 1944, and it is important to remember that history,” said Neeltie Loose, a local resident. “It is important to talk about it and remember.” A few miles away in Grave, Americans and Dutch citizens gathered at the Lt. John S. Thompson Bridge, where 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers helped secure a critical crossing over the Maas River during the opening of Market Garden. Among those remembering the battle stood 16-year-old Dutch reenactor Gavin Ryan Keereweer, whose first name connects him directly to the history he works to preserve. “My name is Gavin Ryan Keereweer, and I was named after James Gavin, the general of the 82nd Airborne Division, and Ryan is from the movie Saving Private Ryan,” Keereweer said. For Keereweer, remembering the Americans who fought in the Netherlands also means protecting the relationship their service helped strengthen. “It’s because of them, I have my freedom,” Keereweer said. “That's why the relationship between Dutch and Americans is so important … It's very important that we keep our trust in each other.” Walt Ranta, son of Sgt. Arne Ranta, an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper who jumped into the fields near Grave on Sept. 17, 1944, carried another family connection into the ceremony. “We helped them then, and today we still stand together,” Ranta said. The fighting eventually moved on, but the relationship between Americans and Dutch communities did not. After the war, Gavin helped rally Albany, New York, behind a relief effort for Nijmegen. Albany residents collected supplies and sent approximately 300 tons of humanitarian aid to the city in 1947. American support also reached Nijmegen’s university. Veterans helped raise money that contributed to the medical faculty, while supporters sent approximately 30,000 books from the United States to help replenish the university library. “The liberation created the conditions for rebuilding, for growth, and for investing in knowledge, healthcare and education,” Lahuis said. The medical faculty began educating students in 1951, and the academic hospital opened in 1956. Brand said Nijmegen used reconstruction to build more than what the war had destroyed. “One powerful example of that reconstruction is what is now Radboudumc,” Brand said. “It was building a future: a place for healthcare, education, and research, where new generations could learn, heal, and contribute to society.” The commemorations also remembered Americans who supported Market Garden from the air. During a plaque unveiling for the B-24H Liberator nicknamed “Rum Runner,” Dutch and American participants honored the aircraft and crew that supported airborne forces during the operation. German anti-aircraft fire brought the aircraft down Sept. 18, 1944, while its crew delivered supplies to American and British paratroopers. The ceremony added another Market Garden story to the memorials Dutch communities continue maintaining more than eight decades later. In Groesbeek, the physical history of the battle became part of everyday life for Herman Wijnhoven, chairman of the Groesbeek Airborne Friends. As a child, Wijnhoven searched the fields of his father’s farm and found pieces of parachutes and ammunition left behind from the fighting. That early interest grew into roughly six decades of collecting World War II and 82nd Airborne Division artifacts. American veterans also began returning to Groesbeek. Wijnhoven and other residents welcomed them, shared meals with them and accompanied them back to the locations where they fought. Those visits grew into friendships. “I have a lot of friends in America, some of who are Soldiers,” Wijnhoven said. “They even call me a Dutch brother.” More than 20 World War II monuments now stand throughout Groesbeek, including one dedicated to Gavin. “We know why we are here, we're standing here because of you, the Americans,” Wijnhoven said. “So it is still very important for us, these days, to commemorate all that the Americans did for us.” People who never experienced World War II now carry much of the responsibility for maintaining that relationship. Friendship Albany Nijmegen works to preserve the postwar connection between Albany and Nijmegen while introducing younger generations to that history. “Most important for us is connecting younger people,” Hamers said. For Hamers, education connects remembrance with responsibility. “It’s about education, it’s the guarantee, it’s the guarantee for freedom,” Hamers said. “So that’s what inspires me.” At Radboud University Medical Center on Sept. 18, U.S. Soldiers joined Dutch leaders, descendants and community members during a commemoration connecting liberation with the rebuilding that followed. Rebecca Hanna carried a personal connection to the Waal Crossing into the ceremony. Her father, retired U.S. Army Capt. Roy Merrill Hanna Jr., served with the 82nd Airborne Division and crossed the river during Operation Market Garden. He returned to Nijmegen in 2018, 74 years after the crossing, and participated in the Sunset March across De Oversteek bridge. Hanna returned in 2026 as another generation continued that connection. Two days later, the Waal Crossing commemoration brought new recognition to several Soldiers whose service remained part of that history for more than eight decades. The U.S. Army announced posthumous Bronze Star Medals for three World War II veterans of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment: U.S. Army Capt. Roy Hanna, I Company, 3rd Battalion; Sgt. Albert Tarbell, H Company, 3rd Battalion; and Pfc. Robert DeVinney, H Company, 3rd Battalion. Hanna and Tarbell both crossed the Waal on Sept. 20, 1944. Tarbell made his combat jump near Grave three days earlier, while Hanna had previously made combat jumps with the regiment in Sicily and the Netherlands during Market Garden. Hanna also received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during an earlier battle at Anzio, Italy. DeVinney joined H Company later and entered combat during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. The Army also approved a posthumous Bronze Star Medal for 1st Lt. Richard G. LaRiviere, known as “Rivers,” who served with H Company, 504th PIR, and crossed the Waal during Market Garden. The Army plans to present his award to his family later in the United States. The awards form part of a broader effort to recognize the service and sacrifice of more than 80, and potentially as many as 120, additional Soldiers through posthumous awards pending approval. The recognition added another part of Market Garden’s legacy to the present: descendants returned, Dutch communities continued remembering, and the Army continued recognizing Soldiers whose service shaped the liberation. The link between 1944 and the present became even more personal during the 82nd Remembrance Ride in Groesbeek. John Leesberg, a witness to the 1944 liberation of Nijmegen, joined current U.S. Soldiers and community members as historic military vehicles traveled through the same region where Allied forces fought 82 years earlier. “From the Americans, I got my life back,” Leesberg said. “For me personally, it’s because the Americans liberated me from the iron shoes of the Germans, and I got my life back.” The Waal Crossing remains one of the defining moments of Operation Market Garden in Nijmegen. On Sept. 20, 1944, paratroopers from the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment crossed the river in canvas assault boats as Soldiers from the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion helped move them across under German fire. U.S. Army Maj. Julian Aaron Cook commanded 3rd Battalion, 504th PIR. Before the crossing, his Soldiers knew him as a strict disciplinarian and did not fully trust him. That changed at the Waal. “He disproved that when he was the first man in the first boat to cross the river,” said James Cook, his son. Maj. Cook remained exposed to enemy fire, helped pull boats ashore, assisted wounded Soldiers and coordinated with Soldiers fighting ahead. “This action on shore earned their trust and their respect,” Cook said. James Cook returned to Nijmegen in 2026 for a ceremony at a residential building that bears his father’s name. “When I was here two years ago, I suggested that my father's name on this building was not meant to just give honor to him,” Cook said. “Rather, it was to honor those that he was with that he commanded.” Dutch Minister for Arms Procurement and Personnel Derk Boswijk joined Americans, Dutch officials, local residents and schoolchildren at the Waal Crossing commemoration. He emphasized the importance of holding the ceremony where the crossing occurred and passing the history of Market Garden to younger generations. For Dutch residents, the location keeps the sacrifice connected to the freedom that followed. “During the Waal Crossing, 48 lives were lost — 48 lives of men who were willing to sacrifice everything for our freedom,” said Kelly van Dalen, a local resident. “82 years later, we remember their courage, their sacrifice, and the freedom they made possible.” Rik Peters said the sacrifice still shapes the freedom Dutch citizens experience today. “82 years later we're still living in the freedom they fought for,” Peters said. “They crossed the Waal under heavy fire knowing that some of them wouldnt make it back. The least we could do is remember and honor their courage and sacrifice in helping liberate us.” Students from De Oversteek Primary School also participated in the ceremony. They sang the U.S. national anthem, performed a dance honoring those who fought and placed flowers at the memorial. Nijmegen carries that remembrance into everyday life. At De Oversteek bridge, 48 lights illuminate one by one each evening as a veteran walks across the Waal during the Sunset March. “Each and every night again and again,” said retired Royal Netherlands Air Force Lt. Col. Tim Rowling. “No matter the weather, there's always a veteran walking the bridge at sunset.” Retired Dutch military officer Gos Staps said the location carries the memory of the Americans who crossed the river under fire. “We are standing here on holy grounds,” Staps said. “Those guys gave their lives for us to be able to stand here today.” As firsthand witnesses disappear, Staps said later generations inherit the responsibility to continue telling their stories. “If you don’t remember them, and don’t say their names, they will be forgotten,” Staps said. The commemorations continued in Oosterhout, where residents preserve the story of U.S. Army Pvt. John Roderick Towle, a 19-year-old paratrooper assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. During fighting Sept. 21, 1944, Towle moved across exposed ground with a bazooka and engaged German armored vehicles threatening his unit. He returned for ammunition and moved forward again before a mortar round killed him. The Army posthumously awarded Towle the Medal of Honor. Oosterhout later placed his name on a street and built a monument near the location connected to his death. Most of the people responsible for preserving his story never met him. “None of the people who worked to build this monument ever knew John Towle,” Chopp said. “Many were born decades after the war ended. You had no obligation to preserve his story, yet you chose to make it part of the story of your own community.” For Robert Braam, a local World War II historian and museum director, the commemorations strengthen a relationship that extends beyond the battlefield. “The strength between our nations grows stronger with each event,” Braam said. “82 years ago, we fought the battle side by side with each other here in this area... It's amazing that we still do that today and continue to strengthen our bond into the future.” Each community carried a different part of Market Garden forward. Groesbeek remembered the paratroopers who landed in its fields. Heumen preserved the names of seven Americans who died near its bridge. Beek placed responsibility for remembrance into the hands of schoolchildren. Grave remembered the paratroopers who seized a vital crossing. Dutch residents honored an American bomber crew that supported the operation. Nijmegen remembered the men who crossed the Waal. Oosterhout kept the name of a 19-year-old American paratrooper on one of its streets. Together, those stories show what happened after the fighting stopped. American Soldiers helped liberate Dutch communities. Americans later helped Nijmegen rebuild. Dutch residents welcomed veterans back, built monuments, named streets and buildings after American Soldiers and taught children why those names matter. Descendants returned to the places where their parents and grandparents served. Current U.S. Soldiers stood beside communities that have carried those memories for more than eight decades. Operation Market Garden lasted days. The relationship strengthened through it has endured for generations. Across 250 years, Americans and Dutch citizens have encountered one another through diplomacy, war, humanitarian relief, education and friendship. In Nijmegen and the communities surrounding it, they continue writing that history together. 1776: the Dutch stood with Americans. 1944: Americans stood with the Dutch. 2026: they still stand together. This article is informational only, and mention of non-governmental organizations does not imply endorsement by the Department of the Army, Department of War, or federal government.

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