In 2018 Derek was asked if he would produce a piece of work to commemorate the Battle of Arnhem. 2019 would be the 75th anniversary of that heroic and ultimately disastrous event, which is still gratefully remembered in the Dutch town where so many members of the Allied troops gave up their lives whilst attempting to hold back an overwhelming force of German armoured units. Amongst the fighters airlifted from England on the 18th September 1944 were five-hundred-and-eighty paratroopers of the 10th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. After the battle, on 25th/26th September, only thirty-six men returned to their base at Somerby in Leicestershire, to be followed a few days later by a further fifty survivors.
Derek's painting of a final stage in the battle (below), where the living fought amongst their dead and wounded comrades in a shattered house, was sold in a series of signed prints and raised £30,000 towards the cost of the memorial to the 10th which was erected at Somerby in 2019. in the course of his research for this painting, Derek met veteran Victor Gregg. Survivor of Arnhem and of Dresden, Victor followed his Army career with a series of job including bus driver and chauffeur to the Russian Embassy. He published several books and never ceased to express his anger at the devastation he has seen in Dresden. Derek's portrait of Victor (right) was made shortly before his 100th birthday. |