Veterans and World War II Day

St Oswald’s Secondary school was recently honoured to host for the day a veteran from one of World War two’s most famous and deadliest battles for British forces.

Gerry Dimmock, 92, a veteran of Operation Market Garden came to talk to some of our 5th year students that hosted his visit.

Gerry enjoyed meeting all the pupils at lunchtime and spent two hours in the afternoon sharing his stories of his very tough war, which had all the pupils present talking about for days afterwards!

The schools media studies unit was able to record his visit with a professional film company with plans to share Gerry’s story with other pupils elsewhere.

Mrs Macleay (HT) says, “Our school community welcomed an amazingly brave and interesting man who survived one of the deadliest battles of the whole war. Of Gerry’s10th parachute battalion of 750 men only 30 returned; all killed in 4-5 days of intense fighting around Arnhem in Holland. Gerry survived to tell us some of his stories about this time and that was 69 years ago. We are impressed by how much impact his care, advice and experience of life made on our young people. It is a story that our pupils won’t forget.”

Next year is the 70th anniversary of Arnhem and Gerry will be back there as he does every September, as the people of Holland remember how much the British did to liberate them from Nazi rule.

He said of his visit to St Oswald’s, “I’ve never been to Glasgow before and the pupils were so friendly and kind to me. I didn’t really want to make a fuss, but I’m so glad the students want to know about the war. I fought and lived through the war years with so many brave good boys from Glasgow. They’d like to know I was here”.

Plans are under way to welcome Gerry back in the near future, to tell as many young people as he can about the fight for Arnhem bridge and to remember what so many did for us all so long ago.