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Operation Market Garden Woodhall Spa is well known because of its wartime connections with the R.A.F. 617 squadron, responsible for the ‘Dam Buster’ raids and the sinking of the Tirpitz. However, there is an equally compelling story regarding involvement of the village with the troops who were to take part in ‘Operation Market Garden’ (known to most people in the UK as the Battle of Arnhem). Operation Market Garden was launched on 17 September 1944. Paratroopers were dropped in the Netherlands to secure key bridges and towns along the Allied axis of advance. Furthest north the British 1st Airborne Division, supported by men of the Glider Pilot Regiment and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, landed at Arnhem to secure bridges across the Lower Rhine. The British forces landed some distance from their objectives and were held up by unexpected resistance. Only a small force was able to reach the Arnhem road bridge while the main body of the division was halted on the outskirts of the city. Meanwhile the support force was unable to advance as quickly as anticipated and failed to relieve the airborne troops as planned. After four days the small British force at the bridge was overwhelmed and the rest of the division became trapped in a small pocket north of the river where the assistance they required from other allied forces failed to arrive. After nine days of fighting the shattered remains of the airborne forces were withdrawn. In preparation for this operation troops were assembled in locations throughout Lincolnshire. The 2,3000 troops were billeted in:the army camps on Kirkby Lane and Roughton Moor, the village hotels, the guest houses, and any home with spare rooms, they even slept on the stairs! A week before they were flown to Arnhem the troops were moved to airfields in the south. From there the men and their equipment were air-lifted to Arnhem. Of the 2,300 who left only 471 returned. The survivers were brought home in 23 Dakotas. Regretably Woodhall Spa is one of the few locations not to have some form of memorial of this event. The museum has little archival material relating to this and has recently undertaken the task of researching and developing its collection. We have now managed, through appealing to the good nature of various sources, to produce a small display relating to ‘Operation Market Garden’. During our enquiries we realised that Woodhall Spa was the only village where troops were billeted not to have a memorial dedicated to the memory of those who fell at Arnhem. We have decided to remedy this and have begun making arrangements to erect a fitting memorial to those who fell . This will be placed in the museum’s garden. Veterans and representatives of the regiments are planning to attend. We continue to put out a plea for information and material to support and further develop this. So that this largely forgotten story can be told, the museum is undertaking the task of researching and developing its display and collection and raising public awareness through an Arnhem Experience Day.