Anderson, Dermod Green, born on 04-11-1914 in Durban, South Africa. Dermod was born to his Irish parents, John Anderson and his wife Mary. He grew up in South Africa and was educated at the Bishop’s Diocesan College in Rondebosch, before studying at the University of Cape Town and the University of Liverpool. At the outbreak of World War II, he was employed as an assistant to the Architect Edwin Lutyens. On 17-02-1940 he married Caroline Ann Cooke.
Dermod was commissioned into The Gloucestershire Regiment on 15-03-1940. After training he was posted to 41 Traffic Control Company before on 19-12-1940, being posted to 2nd Battalion The Gloucestershire Regiment. He returned to traffic control work in 1941 and was promoted to Lieutenant on 15 September that year. On 09-04-1942, Lieutenant Anderson joined 1st Battalion The Glider Pilot Regiment, Army Air Corps, under command of 1st Viscount “Brookie” Alan Brooke, at Tilshead in Wiltshire and on 10-06-1942 began flying training. On completion of his training, he was posted to 2nd Battalion The Glider Pilot Regiment. On 12-02-1944, he joined B Squadron 1st Wing under command of Major T.I.J. Toler and first saw action on 6 June 1944 when it took part in D-Day operations.
On the 18-09-1944 he flew into Wolfheze as part of Operation Market Garden (Arnhem).
Death and burial ground of Anderson, Dermod Green.
Dermod and his passengers moved to Oosterbeek where they took up positions near the old church.
Here he was killed on 25-09-1944, age 29, by a German mortar bomb which landed close to his trench. In a letter to Dermod’s wife, his commanding officer praised him for his bravery. He had managed to bring in wounded in a jeep under heavy enemy fire. It has now become clear that Dermod was buried in his slit trench at the time. He was reported missing after the battle and his name was recorded on the Grosbeek memorial. His remains were found during a field survey in the area of the old church, in order to locate lost field graves – with special permission from the local council. Recovered from a garden next to the Kate Ter Horst house “The Angel of Arnhem”.
Kate ter Horst MBE (6 July 1906, Amsterdam – 21 February 1992, Oosterbeek) was a Dutch housewife and mother who tended wounded and dying Allied soldiers during the Battle of Arnhem. Her British patients nicknamed her the Angel of Arnhem. Ter Horst was born Kate Anna Arriëns, daughter of Pieter Albert Arriëns and Catharina Maingay. She married Jan ter Horst, a lawyer from Rotterdam, with whom she had six children. Kate was killed in a car accident infront of her house, as she with her husband went out, Her husband survived the crash and died four years later..
Lieutenant Dermod Anderson was identified through the DNA of his second cousin Julian.
Lieutenant Dermod Andersons’s funeral was held Wednesday 18th September 2024 at Arnhem-Oosterbeek CWG Cemetery, Oosterbeek, Section 9 C 1A
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