A FORMER soldier is to unveil a monument to remember men from his regiment killed in a failed attempt to bring the Second World War to an early end.

During Operation Market Garden, the Wiltshire Regiment lost 73 men and 200 were wounded at Schuytgraaf in Holland, as they tried to link up with airborne troops who had captured crossings over the river Rhine to allow Allied tanks into Germany.

Today, Raymond Hare will unveil a monument commemorating the battle, near Arnhem, which raged over several days in September 1944.

Mr Hare, then an 18-year-old rifleman, said: “It’s a great honour to be invited as a guest of the mayor of Arnhem, and shows how much the Dutch continue to appreciate what we did for them.

“I’ve been back about 15 times, if not more, and it’s always an emotional experience.

“There used to be a coach load of us who went over to parade every year, but as time has passed, it’s just me now.

“It’s important to keep alive the memories of our comrades who never came back. We always go around all the graves to pay our respects.”

Mr Hare, of Hatchcroft Gardens, Elmstead Market, spent eight months fighting across northern France, Holland and Germany after joining the Wiltshire Regiment in early 1944.

He described the Arnhem operation as “just too ambitious”.

“The paras captured the bridges and we charged down the corridor towards them, but we were being asked to go too far, too fast,” the 83-year-old said.

“Schuytgraaf was the furthest we got, just short of the last bridge at Arnhem, and it was a barn we were fighting for which brought the advance to a halt.

“Housing has been built around it now, and the barn has become a community centre.

“I certainly don’t recognise it now, but we never really knew where we were at the time anyway!” The father-of-three, who is married to Christina, left the Army in 1947, and worked as a panel beater before retiring to Elmstead Market.