SOUTH HADLEY — After years of military service — which included two captures, an occasional bayonet to the gut, various injuries and involvement in one of World War II’s more popularized battles — Hugh Adamson finally has a grave that commemorates that service.

Over a decade after his death in 2013, the former paratrooper’s grave in South Hadley’s Evergreen Cemetery has just now been marked to signify his veteran status.

But unlike most service members being recognized across the country on Veterans Day, Adamson did not serve in the American military — but instead was a member of Britain’s First Airborne Division.

“All of those who fought in the war, fought alongside our allies,” said Brian Willette, post commander of American Legion Post 260, standing beside Adamson’s grave for a special vigil last Thursday night.

Adamson moved to western Massachusetts after the war and eventually settled in South Hadley.

“We know how much we owe to our relationship with the British and other allies,” Willette added, noting that the newly engraved headstone was erected just in time for Remembrance Day — recognized on Nov. 11 in most countries to celebrate the end of World War II hostilities.

Adamson, who joined the British military in 1940 at 16 years old, served with distinction in several conflicts throughout his career as a paratrooper in World War II, most notably including a role in the Dutch city of Arnhem in Allied Operation Market Garden, where 10,000 fought to maintain control of a key bridge in the city.

To accommodate for Adamson’s service to his former homeland, aspects of the ceremony veered mildly from traditional American military rituals: the Union Jack was central among the flags arranged, and in lieu of “Taps,” the British equivalent known as “Last Post,” was intoned on a bugle.

Willette said that the newly engraved headstone, which had been sponsored by American Legion 260 with the permission of family members, not only honors the memory of Adamson, but is also a tribute to Great Britain.

Sharing an account of Adamson’s heroism, Willette said that in the fall of 1944, when Adamson and his peers fought at Arnhem, Allied forces had hoped to end the war in time for Christmas that year. But they met unexpected resistance in their attempt to solidify their hold of all the Rhine River and cross into the heart of Germany, and after a weeklong conflict, only 2,000 Allied troops remained from Operation Market Garden.

While Adamson survived, he was taken prisoner of war — for the second time.

He had previously been taken prisoner of war in Sicily and after successfully escaping alongside a Scottish captive, Adamson returned to the battlefield. After his second capture by the Germans, he spent almost half a year in a German prison camp until World War II came to an end in Europe on May 8, 1945.

Adamson’s son, David, in attendance with his sister, Susan Kosior, and niece Melissa Kosior, said that his father’s survival after seeing so many of his peers die had plagued the former paratrooper, both negatively and positively.

“He liked to have fun. I think because he survived, he appreciated each day,” David Adamson said, adding that his father was very reserved when speaking about the war, and that most of what David knows has been gathered from comrades who fought alongside his father.

Hugh Adamson was injured numerous times and witnessed intense violence, including hand-to-hand combat. “You can’t tell me that doesn’t mess with you,” his son said on Thursday.

“Being a prisoner of war not once, but twice in a single war — is incredible,” said state Sen. Jacob Oliveira, who was among the handful of people who gathered for the dedication.

“As someone who follows World War II history very closely … I always want to be part of something to remember those who sacrificed for a war that changed the course of history,” said Oliveira, after sharing that his favorite books when he was a child were by Cornelius Ryan, specifically “The Longest Day” and “A Bridge Too Far” (the 1977 film on the latter book is one of the most famous war movies ever, and has popularized the events at Arnhem).

Oliveira also spoke briefly about his admiration for those who enlisted in airborne divisions of World War II, which had been “a new technology, a new form of warfare” at the time.

After the war, Hugh Adamson immigrated to western Massachusetts and lived in South Hadley, where he died in 2013. Adamson spent the civilian phase of his life in Holyoke as a union painter, after meeting his wife in South Hadley.

Melissa Kosier, Adamson’s maternal granddaughter, wished that her grandmother had been present to see her husband honored, as Kosior said that her grandmother often thought that her husband was under-recognized as a British veteran living in America, despite the fact her grandfather “fought in the same war but on a different team.”

She thanked participants for spending “their time in the dark for a man you’ve never met” and for making her grandmother’s “wish come true” by being remembered on Veterans Day.

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.