Battle of Arnhem veteran becomes MBE days before 100th birthday

Independent

5 hours ago

A 99-year-old who fought in the Battle of Arnhem said it is important for Second World War veterans to be honoured as 'there's not many of us left'.
Geoffrey Roberts, from Peterborough, was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to the commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem and to charity by the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace on Thursday.
Mr Roberts, who turns 100 on Saturday told the PA news agency: 'I'm surprised actually, I don't know what I got it for, I didn't do anything.
'When I saw the letter I thought someone was kidding me, I didn't have a clue, it was the last thing on my mind. I was very shocked and very overwhelmed.'
Asked how important it is that veterans continue to be recognised, he said: 'It's very important, there's not many of us left, so it's very important especially for the ones who didn't come home.
'The heroes are lying in a cemetery, I was lucky, I turned left when I should have turned right so I'm still here.'
Mr Roberts, who was born in the Chelsea Barracks in London in 1925, signed up in 1942.
On September 17 1944, he flew into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden – depicted in the 1977 Hollywood film A Bridge Too Far – which saw 35,000 British, American and Polish troops parachute or glide behind German lines.
Mr Roberts was captured on September 26, with a German officer giving him some cigarettes and telling him, 'for you, the war is over'.
He was sent to a prisoner of war camp and put to work in a coal mine until the end of the war.