April 30 in Nijmegen

The evening of Monday, April 30 we did the Sunset Walk. 

“A march to remember those who fought for our freedom.

Sunset March is a daily tribute to the Allied soldiers who fought for the liberation of The Netherlands. And especially for those soldiers who lost their lives. In 2013 the city of Nijmegen finished the construction of a new City bridge called the Crossing (Oversteek). It was constructed close to the area where US 82nd Airborne crossed the river the Waal on September 20, 1944 as part of Operation Market garden. 48 Allied soldiers lost their lives during this “Waalcrossing”. The street lights* on this bridge are very exceptional. On the bridge are 48 pairs of street lights. At sunset these sets of street lights are, pair by pair, ignited at a slow marching pace. The total duration of igniting all street lights involved lasts almost 12 minutes.”

To say it was a cold night would be an understatement but it was worth doing.

Here is Kees just before we started. A short introduction was given in Dutch but we knew the general purpose.

The group responsible for the month of April is the Dutch Veterans Bike Association, DVBA.

Many served in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Serbia. It was quite moving marching over the bridge behind the soldiers.

You can see we were a little windy blown and rained on. At the end of the walk there was a quiet tribute paid to all those who have fallen. 

We then quickly walked back across the lit bridge and home for a hot drink. Thanks.