Tulips planted across Lincolnshire to honour those who fought in Operation Market Garden

Wyndham Park Forum volunteers Elizabeth Bowskill and Ian Simmons in Grantham’s commemorative orchard.

A thousand tulips will be planted across Lincolnshire as part of a growing tribute to the Royal Air Force crews that fought in the Second World War. The maroon tulips will be flown in from Holland as part of the international Airborne Tulips Memorial, which commemorates Operation Market Garden, fought in September 1944.

Many of the men involved in the British 1st Airborne Division trained in South Kesteven and flew from airfields at Barkston Heath and Saltby for the battle of Arnhem. The tulips, which will match the colour of the crews’ distinctive berets, will bloom next year in seven sites across the district to commemorate the operation’s 80th anniversary.

Cllr Rhea Rayside, the cabinet member for people and communities at South Kesteven District Council, said: “What a wonderful tribute and a very touching way to remember the sacrifices made by so many. I cannot wait to see these beautiful flowers bloom next spring and I am delighted that we have helped to spread this incredible memorial trail across South Kesteven.”

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Bulbs have been planted in St Vincent’s Church in Caythorpe as well as at Harlaxton Manor by students from the University of Evansville’s campus. The symbolic gesture also recognised the United States Army Air Force troop carrier command’s role in transporting troops to Europe.

Volunteers from the Wyndham Park Forum also planted bulbs in Grantham’s commemorative orchard. Other sites were Easton Walled Gardens, and St Andrew and Mary’s Church in Stoke Rochford.

Grimsthorpe Castle, wartime host to the 1st Parachute Battalion, was chosen for the trail, together with former RAF Saltby, the departure airfield for thousands of troops. Cllr Dixon Warren said: “We have an amazing chapter in military heritage in the heart of our district and we should do all we can to recognise and celebrate that.

“These tulips will add their own colour to the story of airborne troops who will forever be linked to South Kesteven.” Cheshire man Darren Key, whose grandfather fought at Arnhem, worked with gardener Caroline Frost to choose the Attila Graffiti tulip variety for its colour.

She said: “It’s been amazing to watch this living memorial getting larger and larger each year, to remember and commemorate such brave men. It’s a very special way to remember those that paid the ultimate price and to those that returned but had to live with the horrors of their individual battles.”

Operation Market Garden was fought in Nazi-occupied Netherlands between September 17 and September 24, 1944. The aim of the airborne mission was to create a route into northern Germany, and while it ultimately failed, it is one of the most enduring battles in military history.