Julia Mackey

Pictured here is Willemien Rieken. She was only 9 years old when she first began laying flowers on the grave of William Edmond, a British soldier who fought and died to liberate her Dutch Village. From the day he died, and for 75 years, she looked after his grave and kept his memory alive. During WWII, William served with the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron and took part in the Battle of Arnhem in the Netherlands. Sadly, on September 17, 1944, he was shot in the back by a German sniper and fell to the ground. One of his comrades, St David Christie, rushed to his aid, but nothing could be done to save William. Seconds before dying, he said to David: "Tell my wife I love her." This British soldier was then buried at the Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery. Willemien Rieken passed away in 2020. She was one of the last surviving Flower Children, young people who laid flowers at hundreds of graves of Allied casualties in a ceremony after the end of the war. Niall Cherry, secretary of the Arnhem 1944 Fellowship, said: "She was one of the last surviving Dutch civilian links to the Battle of Arnhem. Willemien was a lovely lady who tended to the grave of Trooper Edmund for many years. She will be sadly missed."