In the building lobby.

An engraved plaque.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James M. Gavin arrived near Nijmegen in September 1944 commanding the 82nd Airborne Division during Operation Market Garden. After the fighting ended, he continued his relationship with the Dutch city and helped turn a connection forged during war into one centered on reconstruction, education and friendship.

Allied forces launched Operation Market Garden Sept. 17, 1944, to secure critical bridges and terrain through the Netherlands. Gavins 82nd Airborne Division operated around Nijmegen and Groesbeek. On Sept. 20, paratroopers of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment crossed the Waal River with support from airborne engineers as Allied forces fought to capture Nijmegens bridges.

Gavin returned to Nijmegen after the war and saw that liberation had only started the citys long recovery. Gavin came back in 46 and 47 after the liberation of our city, Nijmegen, and he said, This city needs help, said Walter Hamers, Adriaans husband and an adviser to the FAN board.

Gavin looked across the Atlantic for help and found a natural connection in Albany, New York. Dutch settlers established Fort Orange in 1624 near what later became Albany, and that Dutch heritage gave Gavin a connection between the American city and Nijmegen. Residents throughout Albany joined the effort. Schools, churches, Scouts and civic organizations collected clothing, supplies and building materials for Nijmegen.

In 1947, Albany residents sent approximately 300 tons of aid to Nijmegen. The relief effort strengthened a connection between the cities that continues today. 

Catholic University Nijmegen, now Radboud University, stood at the center of that reconstruction. The university opened in 1923 and endured years of occupation and war. In 1943, Rector Magnificus Bernard Hermesdorf refused to present students with a declaration of loyalty demanded by the German occupying authorities, and university leaders closed the institution rather than comply.

After the war, university leaders began rebuilding. Gavin supported that effort while he also helped connect Nijmegen with Albany. In 1946, supporters created the American Committee to Aid the University of Nijmegen to raise money and assistance for the universitys reconstruction, and historical records list Gavin among its members.

American veterans supported that goal. Money raised by American veterans contributed to the construction of the universitys medical faculty building, and supporters in the United States sent approximately 30,000 books to replenish the university library.

A plaque inside Radboud Univerity Medical Center commemorates the 82nd Airborne Division and its connection to the university. The memorial links the Soldiers who fought around Nijmegen with the institution that American veterans later helped support.

Source: https://www.army.mil

Symbols of the 82nd Airboren Division, The city of Albany and the city of Nijmegen

This building is 

dedicated to the memory of the 82nd Airborne Division

of the united States of America which took so

illustrious a part in liberating Nijmegen and it

will commemorate our gratitude to the Division 

to the American people and to those who gave their last

full measure of devotion