DOUBLE HILLS (FIRST CASUALTIES OF ARNHEM) MEMORIAL

                          PAULTON, SOMERSET

At 10.25 am on Sunday 17th September 1944 a Dakota/Horsa combination took off

from R.A.F. Keevil, Wiltshire, the spearhead of the first lift to Arnhem.

The occupants of the glider were 2 glider pilots of the Glider Pilot Regiment and a unit

of Royal Engineers.   At 11.05 am an explosion occurred in  the glider which caused it

to break tow and crash to the ground, killing all occupants.

These were therefore the First Casualties of Arnhem.

In the early 70’s a committee was formed by Peter Yeates, who, at the time of the crash

was aged 7 years and lived in the Paulton area, with a view to erecting a memorial on

the site of the crash - known as Double Hills.   The dedicated work of the Double Hills

Committee came to fruition when, on the 23rd September 1979 the memorial stone was

dedicated and the first memorial service held.   Since that date an annual service is held

to commemorate the tragedy.  The land on which the memorial stands is owned by HRH

The Prince of Wales. He generously assigned the land, under Trust Deed, to Peter Yeates,

Chairman of the Double Hills Committee, in company with Lt. Col. Nicholls, Chairman  

of The Glider Pilot Regimental Association.

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              Double Hills commemoration Service 7th September 2008

and unveiling of bronze statues of a Glider Pilot & Airborne Royal Engineer

Major General R.E. Urquhart  at the unveiling of the memorial

in 1979.  Seen here with Major General  Cowtan, representing the

Royal Engineers and Peter Yeates who founded the memorial.

A poem written by Ruby Bowell, a Paulton nurse who, in 1944, attended the scene of the crash.

                                “They did not die in battles din

                            Of world renown,

                            Or a medal win,

                            But gave their lives for you and me,

                             So that we and the whole world might be free”

The service opened with a fly past

of aircraft from Middle Wallop

                                          The ‘new’ enhanced Double Hills Memorial

                          (left) the Glider Pilot and (right) the Airborne Royal Engineer

Sculptor Roy Cleeves seen with his creation and Double Hills President Brig. Mike Dauncey

Brig. D S Short, CBE, ADC, Director of Army Aviation with Major Stephen D. Grace, U.S. Air Force

W/O ‘Lofty’ Linthwaite, AAC