Special Exhibit: Operation Market Garden, A Bridge Too Far

Camp Gordon Johnston WWII Museum in Carrabelle is presenting a special exhibit on Operation Market Garden. This exhibit will be on display at the museum from Tuesday, September 6 until Saturday, October 1.  The museum is open every Tuesday through Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm. There is no charge for admission, but donations are gladly accepted.

Operation Market Garden (September 17th – 27th, 1944) was the attempt to establish control of the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem on the border of Germany and the Netherlands. This involved the combined efforts of the First Allied Airborne and the XXX Corps of the British 2nd Army. The battle was unsuccessful for a variety of reasons, including the dependence on a single raised highway the ground forces had to use to link up with airborne troops (US, British and Polish) dropped at the three bridges.

This exhibit presents the military commanders from both the Allied and the German forces, and presents information of the Horsa and Waco gliders, as well as the Douglas C47 Skytrain aircraft used to bring troops and equipment from England.

The battle was commemorated in the 1977 film, “A Bridge Too Far”.  “Band of Brothers”, a miniseries from HBO in 2001, also depicted the 101st Airborne’s part in this battle. They landed near Eindhoven and Veghel.

Camp Gordon Johnston WWII Museum is located at 1873 Hwy 98 West, directly across from the very beach where the beach assault training occurred in 1942-1943. Carrabelle Beach was the site of many practice beach assault landings. For more information, contact Camp Gordon Johnston Museum at (850) 697-8575 or museum@campgordonjohnston.com. Funded in part by the Franklin County Tourist Development Council.