Four C-130H Hercules aircraft assigned to the 165th Airlift Wing of the Georgia Air National Guard and the 123rd Airlift Wing of the Kentucky Air National Guard dropped a mix of U.S., British, Dutch, and Polish paratroopers over fields near Groesbeek, Netherlands, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Operation Market Garden, Master Sgt. Charles Delano said in a news release.
Operation Market Garden, fought Sept. 17-25, 1944, was an unsuccessful Allied military operation fought in the Netherlands and Germany in World War II. The operation was the largest airborne operation up to that time, Delano said.
Among the jumpers were four Georgia Air National Guard Joint Terminal Attack Controllers from the 165th Air Support Operations Squadron and six Georgia Army National Guard soldiers from the 3-108th CAV, who jumped as part of a reenactment of the September 1944 airborne assault by the 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers on Drop Zone Tango, which has not been used for a military static line jump since the original assault on September 1944, Delano said.
Airmen and aircraft from the 165AW, GA ANG also provided air support for the 70th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France, during June 2014, Delano said.