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VETERANS
GO FREE AT WAR AND PEACE 2009
VETERANS of
the Normandy Campaign and the Battle of Arnhem will have a chance to be
re-united with guns, tanks, armoured vehicles and trucks with which they fought
during the Second World War.
To
celebrate the 65th anniversary of both Operation Overlord and
Operation Market Garden, men who took part in both campaigns will be admitted
free to the War and Peace Show at The Hop Farm, Paddock Wood, Kent, from 22nd to
26th July. There will be special rates for their carers and families.
The men
will also have a chance to meet old comrades and exchange memories in an area to
be set-aside for them in the Show's Victory Marquee.
 "It will
mean a lot to my members," said former tank driver Frank Risbridger, chairman of
the Canterbury Branch of the Normandy Veterans Association. Frank has presented
the prizes at the War and Peace Show for the past seven years.
"Whenever I
see a Churchill tank it's like meeting an old friend," he said. "We have members
who were ambulance drivers with the Royal Army Medical Corps. When they see a
wartime ambulance they are thrilled.
"The War
and Peace Show is the only chance most of us get to see these machines, which in
1944 were such an essential part of our lives. But many of our members are on
benefits now, and this gesture by the War and Peace organisers gives them a
welcome free day out."
 The
veterans will be able to inspect vehicles, which like them actually took part in
the battles that brought the Second World War to an end.
These
include a Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle (BARV), which was operational on the
Normandy beaches during D-Day. And light Howitzer artillery pieces of the kind
flown in by glider in the attempt to capture the bridge at Arnhem.
Rex Cadman,
organiser of the Show, said: "This is a big year for veterans of both the
Normandy and the Arnhem campaigns, most of whom are now well into their
eighties.
"I
know many will be travelling to France and Holland to see the battlegrounds over
which they fought all those years ago.
"We can
provided them with a chance to be re-united with the mechanical comrades which
helped them secure victory."
To qualify for free entry please read the Veterans letter and fill out the Veterans entry form.
For further
information contact Jacqui Curtis, Marketing Executive on 01622 870804 email
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or Peter Cook on 01795 536915/07796 172680
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