Memorial honours Irish war pilot

SIXTY years ago yesterday, at the height of one of the fiercest battles of World War II, an RAF transport plane was shot down near Arnhem in the Netherlands.

At the helm was Flight Lieutenant David Lord, an Irish pilot whose deeds are still remembered by Dutch locals and comrades.

Last weekend a memorial was unveiled at the Airborne Museum Hartenstein near Oosterbeek, Arnhem. The memorial was dedicated by the Market Garden Foundation, a Dutch-based association. The memorial was unveiled by two veterans of the operation and Mrs Imelda Buckley, first cousin of David Lord VC

Lord was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for continuing to drop his supplies and remaining at the controls to give his crew a chance to bail out. Only one survived.

The Battle for Arnhem had been planned as the spearhead of an allied thrust through Holland and across the Rhine, using an airborne force to secure the route for ground troops.

But the operation was a failure, leading to more casualties than D-Day.

David Lord, the only member of the RAF’s Transport Command ever to be awarded a VC, is buried alongside members of his crew in Oosterbeek Military Cemetery near Arnhem.