The funeral of the last surviving Manx veteran of the Battle of Arnhem has been held.

Eight Manxmen fought in the Second World War battle and Bob Quayle who died aged 97 on July 19 was the island’s last surviving link with the events portrayed in the 1977 film A Bridge Too Far.

Maughold Church was filled for the funeral on Friday with Bob’s friends and relatives turning up to celebrate the life of a remarkable and much loved Manxman.

Born in Ramsey in 1922 in modest surroundings, he left school at 16 and worked on farms in Maughold until 1940 when he enlisted into the Army. He subsequently volunteered to be a paratrooper.

There was no need for him to go to war at all as he worked in a reserved occupation, but he was driven to enlist by a strong sense of duty and a thirst for adventure.

His first taste of action came in 1943 in North Africa with the 1st Parachute Battalion. Later that year he fought in Italy with the battalion.

They were then called home to prepare for their part in the liberation of Europe.

The 1st Paras took no part in D-Day, but were deployed later with other battalions and airborne forces to try and take and hold the bridge at Arnhem as part of Field Marshal Montgomery’s Market Garden plan.

Bob landed by parachute as part of the attacking force on September 17 1944.

For a number of reasons, the assault on the bridge failed and the remnants of Bob’s battalion were driven back with others to form a defensive enclave backing onto the River Rhine, several miles downstream from Arnhem Bridge.

The Germans, much superior in numbers and equipment, called the enclave ’The Cauldron’ and sustained a merciless fire into the British position over several days.

Eventually on September 25, the survivors able to make the crossing were ferried over the Rhine at night to safety.

Fewer than 2,500 men (less than 25% of those who went in) were lifted out.

Bob was fortunate to be amongst those to be lifted almost unscathed but the events at Arnhem left an indelible impression on him.

He wrote a book about his Arnhem experiences with funds raised going to Hospice Isle of Man.

Bob regularly returned to Arnhem to participate in the annual commemorative activities and was always astonished at the gratitude shown by the Dutch population to the returning veterans and always moved by the involvement of the local school-children in the commemoration.

For most of Bob’s remaining working life he worked for the Steam Packet in the engine rooms before his retirement in 1987.

In retirement he proved to be a keen and green-fingered gardener and was often to be seen walking a succession of dogs over the hills near his home in Onchan.

Bob’s friends Fred and Angie Kissack, who provided the details for this tribute, added: ’A Manx patriot and war hero, he was a true gentleman, a good friend and as genuinely nice a man as you could meet.

’His wife Norma (Davies) pre-deceased him and he leaves a daughter Fiona and son-in-law, Mike.’