1. Second World War

2. Post-war

3. Cultural depictions

4. References

Ter Horst was born Kate Anna Arriëns, daughter of Pieter Albert Arriëns and Catharina Maingay. She married Jan ter Horst, a lawyer from Rotterdam, with whom she had six children. One of her daughters, Sophie, still resides in the family home in Oosterbeek.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}

Second World War

Kate ter Horst witnessed the landings by the British 1st Airborne Division at the beginning of Operation Market Garden on September 17th 1944, noting the event in her diary^[4].

The goal of the operation was for the paratroopers to seize the bridges in and around Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem. The plan called for the British XXX Corps to advance across these bridges and then push into the Ruhr Valley industrial area of Germany. However, the advance on Arnhem fell behind schedule and the troops there were forced into a defensive pocket at Oosterbeek^[5].

Captain Randall Martin asked the ter Horsts permission to set up a regimental aid station in their house at the Benedendorpsweg in Oosterbeek.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}

During the eight days of fighting, ter Horst tended to about 250 wounded British paratroopers herself. Some of her most famous actions in looking after the British troops included walking around her home reading the Bible to dying soldiers^[2] and finding water in the most unlikely places (such as the boiler and toilet) when, due to the large concentration of British troops, the house became a target.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}

ter Horst wrote about these experiences in a book called Cloud Over Arnhem. Writing the foreword for the book, Arnhem veteran General Sir Frank King noted^[3] -

Post-war

In November 1947, her oldest son, Pieter Albert, was killed by a leftover anti-tank mine in a meadow along the Rhine.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}

She starred in Theirs is the Glory, a film made directly after the war about the battle of Arnhem in which survivors were asked to re-enact the parts they played in the battle.^[6]

In 1980, the British ambassador to the Netherlands decorated Kate and her husband as Honorary Members of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.^[2]

In 1992, Kate ter Horst died after she was struck by a car outside her home. Jan died on 1 August 2003 at the age of 98.^[2]

Following her death an Early Day Motion was passed by the British House of Commons paying tribute to Kate ter Horst.^[7]

Cultural depictions

In the 1977 film A Bridge Too Far, she is played by Liv Ullmann. Ter Horst narrated the opening montage in English.

References

• Thomas Saunders Evans
• Thomas Sauvage
• Thomas Sawbridge
• Thomas Sawyer (footballer)
• Thomas Say Publ Ent
• Thomas Say Publ. Ent.
• Thomas Say Publ. Entomol.
• Thomas Say Publ Entomol
• Thomas's big-eared brown bat
• Thomas Scales
• Thomas Scales, 7th Baron Scales
• Thomas S. Casey
• Thomas Scawen (died 1774)
• Thomas Schalekamp
• Thomas Schatz
• Thomas Schellenbacher
• Thomas Schererbauer
• Thomas Scherman
• Thomas Schick
• Thomas Schildknecht
• Thomas Schleiter
• Thomas Schlich
• Thomas Schmidberger
• Thomas Schmidt (footballer)
• Thomas Schmit