TAXI CHARITY FOR MILITARY VETERANS

On Thursday 31 August 2023, BBC Breakfast joined Taxi Charity volunteer cab drivers and war veterans at Harwich to find out more about their trip to the Netherlands for the annual Wandeltocht Airborne March.

On Sunday 3 September, the BBC’s Foreign Correspondent, Anna Holligan, met the Taxi Charity for their visit to Oosterbeek Cemetery. She interviewed WWII veteran Don Turrell and his friend, 27-year-old Callum Reid, about the wonderful bond they share. She also spoke with John Poyner who was visiting his cousin’s grave for the first time, and she filmed a moving moment when WWII D-Day veteran, Bill Gladden, sang We’ll Meet Again.

On 4 May 2023, during their trip to the Netherlands for Dutch Liberation, Taxi Charity volunteers and veterans had lunch at the National Liberation Museum in Groesbeek. They were joined at the museum by Josephine van der Erve, a journalist for a Dutch TV news broadcaster, WNL. Josephine interviewed Market Garden veteran Geoff Roberts and WWII Bomber Command veteran Robbie Hall about their experiences during WWII and what advice they would give to young people.

A huge thank you for our police escort from the Hook of Holland to Wageningen last Wednesday, and then back again on Saturday. As usual when we travel to the Netherlands for the Liberation commemorations, these journeys, with our precious veterans on board, go wonderfully smoothly thanks to the police who close the roads to allow our taxis to travel in convoy.

Last year, during our visit to Pegasus Museum, one of our volunteer cab drivers played Artie Shaw from his cab especially for WWII veteran, Marie Scott, who transmitted messages to and from the beaches on D-Day. Her reaction was wonderful! Thank you to her daughter Gill for sharing this magic moment.

On 6 March 2023, the Taxi Charity held a special event at the RAF Club to mark International Women’s Day. Former Sky and CNBC Europe main anchor, Hannah O’Sullivan, from Host Media Communications, hosted an enlightening Q&A with veterans, Mildred Schutz and Marie Scott. Mildred served with the Special Operations Executive, and Marie, as a WREN, transmitted messages to and from the beaches on D-Day. They both spoke to Hannah about their experiences during WWII. Hannah then spoke with guests from the Netherlands: Hiljte Van Eck who was awarded a BEM for her work with veterans; Sophie ter Horst, daughter of the Angel of Arnhem; and Els Schiltmans from the Dutch Army Recovery and Identification Unit.

Thanks to a campaign launched by the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans in June 2022 to find the young girl Reg had shared his food with in Normandy in 1944, they have finally been reunited. Film courtesy of Emma Newton

In the summer of 2021, the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans spoke with veteran Ray Whitwell who served with the RASC 1st Airborne about the part he played in WWII. In the video, introduced by London cab driver and Taxi Charity volunteer, Brian Heffernan, Ray speaks about being in France in 1940 and how he escaped from Dunkirk; North Africa; and the invasion of Sicily and his time in Italy before returning to England to prepare for Operation Market Garden in September 1944. Ray was called up when he was 20 and went to Ramsgate on the Kent coast only to discover that his first night of army life meant sleeping on the floor, with a couple of blankets and his boots as a pillow. On 1 January 1940, Ray sailed to France. Once there, he drove a three-ton Bedford van to deliver petrol in tins which leaked, to those who needed it. Later that year, between 26 May and 4 June, the evacuation from Dunkirk took place and Ray headed to Dunkirk in his truck. Leaving his vehicle just outside the town, he headed to the beach to find thousands of British troops waiting to evacuate. Deciding that this wasn’t the place he wanted to be, he commandeered an Austin and drove to Lille. Once there, he exchanged the petrol he was carrying for a train ride to Le Havre and from there jumped on board a Dutch fishing vessel heading for Southampton. Ray’s part in WWII then took him to North Africa, the invasion of Sicily and time in Italy before returning to the UK to prepare for Operation Market Garden. Ray flew over to the Netherlands in a glider carrying a jeep and a trailer packed with ammunition and hand grenades which certainly made him consider what might happen on the way over. When they landed, their orders were to defend the landing zone from the Germans who were on two sides, which they accomplished. When asked if he ever considered dying, he was adamant that he always knew he would come home, and when asked if he was a hero his reply was simply, "No - I’m just ordinary". Ray was still in the Netherlands when the war ended, and he thoroughly enjoyed partying in the streets with the locals.