Street name in Devizes marks links (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Street name in Devizes marks links

2:00pm Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Devizes By Lewis Cowen

The residents of Lochem in Holland, liberated by soldiers of the 4th battalion the Wiltshire Regiment in 1945, have welcomed the news a street in Devizes has been named after their town.

Jeff Matthews, chairman of the Devizes branch of the Royal British Legion and a long-time secretary of the Vly Club, the old comrades association of the 4th Battalion, was largely responsible for the name choice.

But he wants residents to know what the name means.

He said: “A lot of people never know the relevance of the name of their street.

“Lochem (which is about 80 miles east of Amsterdam) was liberated on April 2, 1945, by Devizes men and there has always been a warm welcome for Wiltshire people in the town ever since.”

Lochem Road is on the Naughton Road estate off London Road.

A recent issue of the local Dutch newspaper Gelders Dagblad features a photo of Mr Matthews beside the road sign and a report about the naming.

It quotes Berry Swarthoff, owner of the Mondani restaurant in Lochem, who has helped Mr Matthews on his guided visits to the town over the years.

Mr Swarthoff and his wife recently visited Devizes and were very touched that the street was named after their town.

He said: “Lochem already has a Somerset Road but Lochem was not only liberated by the Somersets but also by the Wiltshires.

“What would be beautiful is if also a street in Lochem was named after the Wiltshire Regiment.”

The Swarthoffs were impressed with Devizes, Mr Swarthoff being reported to have said: “It lies in a splendid region near Stonehenge – a beautiful operating base to start a vacation.

“Next week I will contact the mayor of Lochem to show him this wonderful initiative of Jeff’s.”

Thanks to the link established by Mr Matthews, who regularly leads groups visiting the battlefields of the Second World War, a memorial for Wiltshire men who gave their lives to liberating the Netherlands was unveiled at Schuytgraff, near Arnhem, in May 2010.

The Wiltshire Regiment helped rescue paratroopers trapped during the ill-fated Operation Market Garden in 1944.