The Netherlands

On 5 May thirteen British and one Canadian veteran led the Liberation Parade through Wageningen applauded by thousands who lined the route.   The British veterans had travelled to the Netherlands with the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, which has been making the annual trip for Dutch Liberation since 2012 and were joined by a…

Taxi Charity Dutch Ambassador Frans Ammerlaan has been awarded an honorary MBE by King Charles for services to commemorations and to British World War II veterans. Frans Ammerlaan has had a long association with veterans. He has a great interest in Operation Market Garden, an Allied military operation during the Second World War fought in…

WWII Veteran Alec Hall from Southend-on-Sea, died at home on Monday 16 October with his family by his side. Alec Hall, served with the 181 Field Ambulance (Airborne) as a medical nurse and was part of Operation Market Garden in 1944. He returned to the Netherlands on several occasions with the Taxi Charity for Military…

On 14 September, four London cab drivers who volunteer for the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans travelled to the Netherlands for the annual Operation Market Garden Commemorations. Every year the anniversary of Operation Market Garden, which took place between the 17 and 27 September 1944, is commemorated with a series of events in the Arnhem…

On 1 September, a group of Taxi Charity for Military Veterans volunteers, veterans and supporters attended a reception at the Ambassador’s Residence in The Hague. Joanna Roper CMG, His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Netherland has met with the Taxi Charity on several occasions and kindly invited them to visit her Residence on their way to…

On 2 September veteran Ben Mead who served with REME in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan will be marching 40km carrying 15kg to raise funds for the Taxi Charity. On Saturday 2 September Ben Mead, from Eastbourne,  will join thousands of others to participate in the 40km Wandeltocht route around Oosterbeek near Arnhem. Many of the…

WWII Normandy veteran Roy ‘Smudger’ Smith from Sittingbourne in Kent died in hospital on Friday 23 June, he was 97. Roy Smith is survived by his two daughters, Linda Harvey and Teresa Rising, five grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren. Roy was born in November 1925 in Sittingbourne, Kent, the second youngest of seven children. From…

In September 1944, at the age of 19, Frank Ashleigh was the youngest airman to take part in Operation Market Garden. Frank Ashleigh from Kingsbury, who served in WWII with the Glider Pilot Regiment died on 18 June 2023 after a short stay in hospital, he was 98. Frank is survived by his wife Mavis…

Fifteen cabs driven by Taxi Charity volunteers took a group of veterans to the Netherlands for Dutch Liberation. The London based Taxi Charity has been taking veterans to the Netherlands for Dutch Liberation since 2012. The liberation event begins on 4 May when the Dutch remember the civilians and members of the armed forced who…

WWII veteran Marie Scott 96 became the first female veteran to light the flame of liberation at midnight on 4 May in the Netherlands. Marie Scott who transmitted messages to and from the beaches on D Day in WWII was given the honour of lighting the liberation flame in Wageningen at midnight on 4 May…