On the grounds of the hotel, next to the parking lot.

A three-column monument inscribed in English containing a commemoration message and lists the units of the men who sacrificed their lives during Operation Varsity. The center column is colored in grey and the sides are colored in black. At the top of the monument is a large insignia of the 17^th Airborne Division. The hotel was the Command Post of the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment after the landing. This location is in the middle of Landing Zone S.

On March 24, 1945, more than 16,000 paratroopers dropped in and around Wesel, Germany. The mission, known as Operation Varsity, was the first and most significant Allied paratroop operation in Nazi Germany. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery devised a plan, code-named Operation Plunder. This plan would allow the Allied forces to cross the Rhine, which separated Allied-controlled Germany from Nazi-occupied Germany at the time.

Operation Varsity was developed as a support operation to avoid a massive death toll. The objective was to capture the Rhine River and the surrounding area to allow ground troops to cross safely. It would include the combined forces of the British 6th and the American 17th Airborne Divisions and involve over 1,700 transport craft and 1,000 fighter planes.

In the center:

17TH AIRBORNE DIVISION

"Thunder From Heaven"

"Operation Varsity"

In Memory of the Men of the

17th Airborne Division

United States Army

Who Landed in this Area

March 24, 1945

INSPIRED BY 'THE RIFLE'

DEDICATED MARCH 24, 2022,

SCIONS OF THE 17TH AIRBORNE DIVISION

On the sides: