'I feel forever in-debt': Annan students travel to mark the 80th anniversary of the battle of Arnhem

• ITV Border's Lori Carnochan visited the students from Annan Academy ahead of their trip Arnhem.

Dumfries and Galloway students travelling to the Netherlands to mark 80 years since 'Operation Market Garden', say they feel 'forever indebted' to the soldiers who died.

More than 40 students from Annan Academy are marking the mission known as the 'Bridge too Far' by travelling to Arnhem, Netherlands.

The students will commemorate soldiers who represented the Kings Own Scottish Borders and the Border Regiment, 80 years on from the operation. The Battle of Arnhem occurred between 17 - 26 September, 1944.

Ollie, a student, says the soldiers' war effort means a lot to him. He said: "If you keep forgetting things that have happened, you often repeat the same mistakes. With the local connection you can often find family connections as well.

"Finding people from this area over there means they were willing to travel that however far. They fought as hard as they could until the very end.

"I feel forever in-debt to them, because if they hadn't fought this battle life would be very different."

The mission's aim was to seize key bridges in the south-east of the Netherlands while utilising Airborne Divisions. 10,000 soldiers landed but their arrival zones were located seven miles away from the bridge, with only one battalion reaching the target area.

Annan Academy student Faye, says her school has visited different museums and held memorial services to recognise the area's local connection to the battle.

She said: "I think it's really important to learn about the local people who fought in this war because it's about the history of the place and about people who are connected to us who went away and made sacrifices.

"I think that's a really important thing that everybody should know a little bit about.

"It was a really interesting experience to be honest, I went in not knowing that much and came out open-minded. It just takes you back and helps you piece together a story."

Teacher Jamie Brand says the school's trip to Arnhem is a "longstanding tradition", visiting for more than 30 years.

He said: "It's very much based around the Scottish borders and the Border Regiment who recruited in this area, so many of them were actually involved in the fighting that took place in Arnhem.

"It's important young people see the sacrifices that people made to keep us living at liberty but also to learn from the mistakes that were made, and to understand the moral judgments that surrounded the whole operation."

In the school's visit this year, the students will also visit a German military cemetery with nearly 32,000 burials, with the aim to demonstrate the "human cost on both sides".

Mr. Brand says soldier Alexander Semple, from Annan, holds an "unbelievable" military record.

Soldier Semple was an evacuee in Dunkirk, 1940, then went on to fight on Gold Beach in the D-Day landings in 1940.

The teacher said: "He fought all the way through France and Belgium dying in the village while trying to reach the bridge in Arnhem to support the paratroopers that had landed by air.

"His family still live in the town and so it's hugely important that we remember that, honour the past and very much learn from it."

The students will also lay a flower on the graves, which they have described as a huge honour.

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