220010 Fred Hodges D Company Border Regiment (d.18th Sep1944) My father, Fred Hodges, also served with 20 Platoon of The Border Regiment D Company at Arnhem. I came across the comment about Stan Sears on your website in which the writer said that no information was known about the death of Sgt. Sears at Arnhem on 18th September 1944. On our occasional visits to Arnhem he did mention Stan and talked about the circumstances of his death. On the second day of the battle the Company was moving to new positions by the village of Heelsum. Germans were spotted moving on the other side of a shallow cutting. It is apparent that the Germans has also spotted the British troops and they opened fire, killing Pte. Joe Walker. My father then said that Stan had to put himself in harm's way to find out where mortar and rifle fire should be targeted. It was in doing this that he was shot and my father believed that he died almost immediately. My father spoke of the bravery of Stan in doing the job that had to be done.
My father and I visited Heelsum some years ago and he recognised where the action had taken place. The locality between the two lines is now occupied by a school. It is a quiet and peaceful place, in stark contrast to those fateful days in 1944.
I hope that this gives some comfort to the relatives of Sgt. Stanley Sears.
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