AN EMINENT historian has appealed for information about a Second World War War casualty from the Honest Toun for a book he is writing.

Dilip Sarkar MBE, from Worcester, is anxious to fin out more about Trooper William McKinlay Edmond, who was 27 years old – the son of William and Joanna Edmond, and husband of Janet Edmond, all of Musselburgh.

Keen to trace surviving relatives, he told the Courier: “I am currently working on a book concerning the stories of casualties suffered by the 1st British Airborne Division and Independent Polish Parachute Brigade during Operation Market Garden, the ill-fated attempt to seize the Rhine bridges in September 1944, made famous more recently through Sir Richard Attenborough’s epic 1977 film A Bridge Too Far.

“Sadly, one of the British casualties was a Musselburgh man – and I am very much hoping for contact with any surviving relatives.”

Trooper Edmond was a member of 9 Section, C Troop, of the 1st Airlanding Squadron, Reconnaissance Corps, Royal Armoured Corps, commanded by Major Freddie Gough, later a well-known Conservative MP.

The squadron’s job was to land by glider near Wolfheze on September 17, 1944, then dash to and seize Arnhem Bridge in their specially armed and adapted jeeps.

Unfortunately, Trooper Edmond was shot by a German sniper as the squadron advanced through Wolfheze. Lieutenant Bowles and Sergeant Christie dragged him to safety and conveyed the mortally wounded man to the Regimental Aid Post.

Shot in a lung, his last reported words were: “Tell my wife I love her and go and see her.”

Shortly afterwards, the squadron was ambushed en route to Arnhem Bridge near a railway culvert east of Wolfheze, suffering many casualties, and as a direct consequence of which, coupled with strong German resistance, the proposed coup-de-main never happened.

Trooper Edmond was initially buried in the garden of Duitsekampweg 9, Wolfheze, where a famous photograph was taken of an airborne medic kneeling over his grave, marked with a rough wooden cross.

In 1945, he was reinterred at the nearby Oosterbeek Airborne Cemetery in the Netherlands – where annually since that year, Dutch schoolchildren have laid flowers on all 1,750 graves every September.

Mr Sarkar, who received an MBE for services to aviation history, said: “I am trying to build up a picture of these men, their backgrounds, education, pre-war occupations, families and emphasise that each casualty also represented a tragedy for every family concerned.”

Mr Sarkar can be contacted at 2 Edmonton Close, Lower Wick, Worcester, WR2 4DQ.