Paratroopers project gets £150,000 lottery funding

A project to commemorate the role of airborne forces in World War Two has been awarded almost £150,000 in lottery funding.

Soldiers From The Sky tells the story of how two of the biggest battles involving paratroopers were planned in Lincolnshire.

Thousands of airborne soldiers flew from airfields around Grantham in 1944 to take part in the D-Day invasion of France and Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands.

The 18-month project marking both battles' 80th anniversaries will include a website, smartphone app, information signs, an exhibition at Grantham Museum and commemoration events.

On 6 June 1944 more than 6,300 paratroopers of the US 82nd Airborne Division flew from the county and jumped or landed in gliders in Normandy as part of the D-Day attack.

In September the same year the largest airborne assault in history saw more than 8,600 British, US and Polish paratroopers, land in Arnhem in an attempt to seize strategic bridges in the Netherlands.

The raid was later depicted in the all-star film A Bridge Too Far.

Councillor Paul Stokes from South Kesteven District Council said the project was an opportunity "to discover, explore and share the backstories to this amazing chapter of our military heritage".

“Lincolnshire is widely known as Bomber County rightly highlighting its role in the Second World War," he said.

"But we have a unique and complementary story to tell of how airborne soldiers of three nations came together in preparation for iconic battles."

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