Across the Waal: Nijmegen remembers the sacrifice of 48

NIJMEGEN, Netherlands - Eighty-two years ago, American paratroopers climbed into canvas boats and pushed into the Waal River under heavy German fire. They crossed in daylight, exposed on the water, fighting to reach the opposite bank and open the way toward Nijmegen's bridges.

Forty-eight of them did not survive.

On Sept. 20, 2026, Soldiers, Dutch officials, U.S. representatives, local residents and schoolchildren gathered along the river to commemorate the 82nd anniversary of the Waal Crossing during Operation Market Garden.

For the people of Nijmegen, the crossing remains more than a story from World War II. Its legacy continues through a city that still connects the sacrifices of 1944 with the freedom it enjoys today.

"During the Waal Crossing, 48 lives were lost - 48 lives of men who were willing to sacrifice everything for our freedom," said Kelly van Dalen, a local resident. "82 years later, we remember their courage, their sacrifice, and the freedom they made possible."

On Sept. 20, 1944, paratroopers from the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, crossed the Waal River west of Nijmegen in canvas assault boats. Soldiers from the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion helped move them across while German forces fired from the opposite bank.

The crossing helped Allied forces attack German positions north of Nijmegen and contributed to the capture of the city's road and railway bridges. The mission came at a heavy cost but helped continue the Allied advance through the Netherlands.

Rik Peters, a local resident, said the freedom people experience today remains connected to what those Soldiers were willing to risk.

"82 years later we're still living in the freedom they fought for," Peters said. "They crossed the Waal under heavy fire knowing that some of them wouldn't make it back. The least we could do is remember and honor their courage and sacrifice in helping liberate us."

That remembrance brought generations together during this year's ceremony.

Participants laid wreaths in memory of those who fought and died during the crossing. U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 21st Special Troops Battalion, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, supported the ceremony alongside Dutch military members, officials and local residents.

Students from De Oversteek Primary School also took part in the commemoration. The children performed a choreographed dance in remembrance of those who fought during World War II, sang the U.S. national anthem, and placed flowers on the memorial.

Their participation showed how Nijmegen continues to pass the story of the Waal Crossing to generations born long after the fighting ended.

That memory remains visible throughout the city.

De Oversteek, a modern bridge near the route of the 1944 crossing, serves as a daily memorial. Each evening, 48 pairs of lights illuminate one after another across the bridge, representing the 48 American Soldiers who died during the crossing.

Veterans and others also cross the bridge during the Sunset March, continuing a daily tradition of remembrance.

The bridge, the lights and the annual ceremony keep the events of Sept. 20, 1944, connected to life in Nijmegen today.

As the United States marks 250 years of independence in 2026, Operation Market Garden commemorations also highlight a relationship between Americans and the Dutch that stretches across generations.

At the Waal, that history remains personal.

The Soldiers who entered the river in 1944 could not see the bridge that would one day carry 48 lights in their memory or the Dutch schoolchildren who would stand near the river decades later singing the American national anthem.

Today, Nijmegen makes sure another generation knows what they did.

The battlefield around the Waal has changed, but the river remains. So does the memory of the men who crossed it.

Eighty-two years later, Nijmegen still remembers.