The Airborne Museum at Hartenstein in Oosterbeek in the Netherlands is one of the museums preserving the Battle of Arnhem of World War II. It is situated in Villa Hartenstein which served as the the headquarters of the British 1st Airborne troops led by Major General Roy E. Urquhart, it hosts an award winning Airborne Experience Exhibition as well as photos and artifacts of the battle. For film buffs, they will remember it to be “A Bridge Too Far”, which was about the failed Operation Market Garden.

The museum was closed in October for restoration and was originally scheduled to reopen in March 2020. However, with the Covid-19 pandemic, the museum was forced to remain closed pending lockdown until recently it was able to open with health and safety protocols put into place and with an of Richard Adams's "Watership Down: the Story behind the Story" on display.

Even with its reopening, the museum lost €300,000 during the lost months of the lockdown, it is in trouble in maintaining its operations as it tries to stay afloat.

To help the museum, tactical shooter clans have banded together to help raise funds for the museum. According to PC Gamer, the fundraising campaign is led by Easy Company 506th PIR, a clan that plays Hell Let Loose and Post Scriptum. The leader of the group, Nicholas Collins, who plays with the gamertag Winter5427 (reminds us of Major Richard "Dick" Winters in “Band of Brothers") said that one of their members approached the clan to about the predicament of the museum.

They decided to help out and created a GoFundMe page with an initial target of €2,000 which they easily met, they set a new goal of €5,000 which was already breached. As of this writing, the amount already pledged is over €11,000:

The Airborne Museum has been in existence since 1949. In the last three years the museum  has undergone a major restoration and the permanent exhibition has been completely renewed. The re-opening of the museum was planned for 13 March 2020 but due to the Covid-19 virus this could not proceed. The museum was closed until 1 June.  From this date onward we can only admit a small number of visitors each day.

To keep our museum going we kindly ask for your support. Any donation would be greatly appreciated.

UPDATE: We have already reached our initial goal of € 2.000 even before the event has started! We are incredibly thankful for all your donations and genuinely surprised by the speed at which our target amount was reached.

In light of this remarkable achievement and the fact that the game marathon has not even begun, we have decided to be even more ambitious and raise our target to €5.000. All the money will of course still go to keeping the museum running.

It looks like this a cause that airsoft players and reenacting communities can get behind to. The fundraising is still ongoing and while the fund creators have already gotten the support of World War II games developers, they need more support to help the museum keep afloat. OptimusPrime has visited this museum and he says its great place to learn about Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem that it deserves support.

Ready to help? Go to GoFundMe page to pledge your support.

All photos from the Airborne Museum At Hartenstein.