One-legged veteran parachutist George Cross is taking to the skies over Holland once again to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem.
The 80-year old Billericay man, who lost many friends in the doomed parachute drop, will make the jump with an instructor.
Mr Cross is raising money for a cancer charity on what is expected to be the last such anniversary reunion of the Arnhem veterans.
He said: "I did a practice jump last week from 12,000 ft with an instructor who is one of the Red Devils - because I have only one leg I can't jump solo. It was lovely - absolutely marvellous."
At the age of 25 Mr Cross was one of 10,000 men who parachuted over Arnhem on September 17 1944 as part of the liberation of Europe. After escaping from a German prisoner-of-war camp he was one of just 2,000 who came back.
He said: "I was in the 10th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment - most of us got killed or captured.
"I was chosen as one of the four pathfinders for our battalion - we jumped the day before the rest.
"The next day we found that the Germans were already dug in, waiting for our chaps and shooting them out of the sky. We suffered very heavy losses.
"At Arnhem we have our own graveyard and walking around I can read the names of my friends on the stone."
Mr Cross will make the anniversary jump, planned for Saturday September 18, in tandem with an instructor because of an accident 11 years ago.
He said: "I lost my leg after my wife died. I was standing on a pavement in Spain and this chap did not take the corner properly.
"He hit me and threw me in the air and I landed with my leg broken in two places. He took the other one off completely from below the knee. I was in Basildon Hospital for about three months."
Mr Cross is raise money for Malcolm Sargent Cancer Care for Children for personal reasons, as his wife and one of his three daughters died of the disease.
If you want to sponsor Mr Cross, you can call him on 01277 658330.
Practice jump - George, bottom, with his Red Devil instructor
Return to Arnhem - veteran George Cross prepares for his high-flying reunion
Picture: ROBIN WOOSEY
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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