A priceless Victoria Cross awarded for bravery at Arnhem was on show at an unveiling ceremony at Easton Walled gardens yesterday (October 16).
The medal was posthumously awarded to paratrooper Lieutenant John Grayburn for his heroism in the battle to secure the town’s main road bridge – famously ‘a bridge too far’.
He spent the summer of 1944 as part of ‘A’ Company 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment on the Easton Estate, whilst training alongside British 1st Airborne Division comrades for then-unknown and unspecified operations in the liberation of western Europe.
His son, also called John, unveiled a new oak-framed information board at Easton Walled Gardens. It pays tribute to the actions that won his father Britain’s highest military accolade and the welcoming role to airborne troops that Easton played in the war.
The story is one of many told in South Kesteven District Council’s Soldiers from the Sky project, made possible by National Lottery players.
It traces how British, American and Polish Airborne forces trained for battle in South Kesteven and took part in the WWII milestones of D-Day and Operation Market Garden: www.soldiersfromthesky.co.uk
Lt Grayburn’s medal was lent for the day by the Airborne Assault Museum at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.
It was one of five VCs awarded at Arnhem – in his case as a platoon commander helping to hold the bridge for three days against overwhelming odds.
Easton Walled Gardens owner Sir Fred Cholmeley welcomed the invited audience and said: “81 years ago the men of ‘A’ Company 2 Para posed for a group photo very close to where we are standing. That was just a few weeks before they parachuted into Arnhem.
“Over the years we discovered little snippets of their time here, including easy to miss, scratched graffiti under the Gatehouse marking their arrival at the hall in 1943.
“The launch of Soldiers from the Sky has helped fill in so many gaps for me about this pivotal event and the men who lived here during 1943 and 1944, not least the humbling story of Lt John Grayburn, of whom I knew nothing before.”
Lt Grayburn’s son untied a maroon ribbon adorning the new sign and said: “It’s astonishing to think that from this peaceful corner of England, these soldiers were suddenly in an aircraft heading for Arnhem.
“My father had actually spent most of the war training. He had initially joined the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry before joining the Parachute Regiment and I think had been immensely frustrated that the war would be over before he ever saw any action.
“His commanding officer Lt Col John Frost described him as an ordinary officer but added that ordinary people do extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances.
“Arnhem is so often held as a great British defeat. For men like my father, it was not a defeat. They were expected to hold the bridge for two days and they held it for three.
“If it was indeed a defeat, they created a legend. Thank you on behalf of my father to all involved for keeping these memories alive.”
SKDC Leader Cllr Ashley Baxter said: “We are massively delighted to host the project, telling the stories of British, American and Polish airborne forces here in 1944 and thank the National Lottery Heritage Fund for making it possible.
“It’s a unique story, largely untold. Information boards like this new installation at Easton Walled Gardens will ensure that men like Lt Grayburn are never forgotten.
“We know about what happened when they arrived in Europe because of the films that have been made, not so much about what happened before they set off.
“This heritage trail will bring tourism, and I know there is now an appetite from a younger audience who want to know what their grandfathers did during the war.”
Project Heritage Consultant Brian Riley had earlier explained the military heritage of Easton and the British 1st Airborne Division’s build up to Arnhem, with Elizabeth Smith outlining the Commonwealth War Graves Commission ‘For Evermore’ project discovering and sharing stories of the war dead.
Lieutenant General Jonathan Page CB OBE, a former Colonel Commandant of the Parachute Regiment who saw service in the Falklands, the Gulf, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, concluded the event with a moving speech about the impact that troops training for war have on a local community.
He said: “This had to become a mock war zone. How did they make Lincolnshire a platform as their forward operating base to throw themselves against fortress Europe?
“Thank you all who have put time, effort and resource into highlighting the role that this part of our lovely country played in hosting, putting up with and tolerating the Airborne forces community.”
Easton Hall welcomed back countless men of the British 1st Airborne with a hot meal after they arrived in South Kesteven in late 1943, having sailed to the UK from action In North Africa, docking in Liverpool and travelling by train to Grantham.
Thursday’s audience included serving military, Parachute Regiment veterans, SKDC elected members, National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Arnhem 1944 Fellowship, Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire, and Airborne Assault.
