USAAF WAR MEMORIALS

During World War 2, Suffolk by nature a flat county was inundated with airfields that were mainly used by the USAAF. Most of the airfields have now gone and are only remembered by memorials like the ones below that can be found scattered around the Suffolk countryside.

The memorial at Metfield. The principal WW 2 USAAF unit at Metfield was the 491st Bomb Group, flying the B-24 Liberator. They flew their first mission from Metfield on 2 June 1944. Metfield had previously been the base of the 353rd Fighter Group, flying P-47 Thunderbolts.
At 7.30 pm on 15 July 1944, the Suffolk countryside around Metfield was rocked by a series of massive blasts as 1,200 tons of bombs exploded at the Bomb Dump as a result of a loading accident. Five American servicemen were killed, and the blast affected properties as far away as Bungay and Southwold. Five B-24s of the 491BG were wrecked, and six more damaged.
The Bomb Dump explosion was pricipally responsible for the move of the 491BG to North Pickenham in Norfolk the following month. The 491st flew the fastest rate of missions of any B-24 Group in the 8th USAAF. One B-24 pilot completed his tour of 30 missions in exactly two months.
In the final months of the war, Metfield was the base of the 1409th Base Unit, an obscure US Transport Command unit which flew clandestine night missions in and out of Sweden, repatriating American aircrews who had been forced down in that neutral country after an agreement was reached between the respective governments.
The last German a ircraft to crash in East Angliain WW 2, a Ju 88 night-fighter intruder, crashed just South of the airfield on 4 March 1945 after strafing the base and killing a US NCO on duty in a radio hut.

Situated near the Church in the village of Horham is one of the most striking WW 2 airfield/Bomb Group memorials, that of the 95th Bomb Group, 8th USAAF. On one side of the memorial, which has the shape of a B-17 Fortress tail fin, is the 95BG tail marking, a 'B in a square', while a plaque containing the unit badge and relevant details is on the reverse. The base of the memorial contains a plan view of the Horham runways. The 95th arrived at Horham with their B-17s on 15 June 1943. Between then and April 1945, this Group flew more than 300 missions, dropping nearly 20,000 tons of bombs and losing over 150 B-17s MIA. The 95th was the only 8th Air force Bomb Group to receive three Distinguished Unit Citations. On 4 March 1944, B-17s from the Horham Group became the first American bombers to attack Berlin in WW 2. The 95BG also had the unfortunate distinction of losing the last 8th USAAF heavy bomber MIA in WW 2, when one of its B-17s crashed in the sea off Benacre, Suffolk, returning from a food-drop over Holland on 7 May 1945. Two of the crew survived.

This memorial is dedicated to Rattlesden, or Station 126 as it was known in the 8th USAAF. The 447th Bombardment Group flew their first mission with B-17 Fortresses on 24 December 1943. Between that date and 21 April 1945, the Group flew 257 missions, dropping over 17,000 tons of bombs and losing 153 aircraft. One of the 447th's B-17s, "Milk Wagon", set a record for a 3rd Division USAAF Fortress when it completed 129 missions without a turn-back.

The memorial, featuring the 447BG's tail-marking 'K in a square', is located 1 mile SW of the village of Rattlesden at MR (Sheet 155) 973569. It was dedicated on 3 June 1984.

The restored Control Tower on Rattlesden Airfield is now the HQ of the Rattlesden Gliding Club.

The next three memorials are all located at Holton, near the Holton Airfield Memorial Museum,which is well worth a visit.

The 56th Fighter Group, or as they became more widely known, "The Wolfpack" were probably one of the most famous USAAF fighter units of WW 2. Based at Holton between March 1943 and April 1944, the 56FG were the only 8th USAAF unit to fly the P-47 Thunderbolt throughout their stay, the majority of Groups converting to the P-51 Mustang during 1944. The Thunderbolt, known variously as "The Jug" (Juggernaut) or "The flying milk bottle" (owing to its similar shape), despite doubts from some, became a formidable long-range fighter. Although moving to Boxted in Essex in April 1944, some of the 56FG's fiercest actions with the Luftwaffe were fought while flying from Holton. They finished the war with a higher air-to-air 'kill' ratio than any other 8th USAAF Group, 674.5 enemy aircraft destroyed, plus 311 on the ground when strafing.

In marked contrast to the 56FG, the 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron (ERS) were one of the least well-known 8th USAAF units in East Anglia. 5ERS moved to Holton on 16 Jan 1945, with a strange assortment of P-47 Thunderbolt and OA-10 Catalina amphibian aircraft. Their task, as the unit name implies, was the rescue of airmen down in the waters of the North Sea or English Channel. The P-47s were used in a spotter role in conjunction with RAF HSLs (High Speed Launches), carrying two 5-man dinghies under the wings and smoke markers to guide surface craft to the downed airmen. The Catalinas enabled 5ERS to carry out their own rescue work, and during the last six weeks of the war in Europe, they also operated a few B-17 Fortresses carrying airborne lifeboats, dropped by parachute to aircrews too close to enemy territory for rescue by aircraft or launches. The precise number of aircrew saved by the work of the 5ERS has not been documented, but it probably ran into several hundreds. One P-47 and pilot and two Catalinas were lost, and the 5ERS managed to shoot down a single enemy aircraft (pilotless), a V-1 Flying Bomb !

The 489BG, flying B-24 Liberators, were late-starters in the 8th USAAF's 2nd Division, flying their first mission on 30 May 1944. The 489BG had the distinction of the only Medal of Honor (the American equivalent of the VC) awarded to a B-24 crewman go to a pilot in their Group, Lt Col Leon R Vance, after he ditched a B-24 in the Channel on 5 June 1944, and despite fearsome injuries including the loss of a foot, aided other crewmen in the water until rescued. The 489th left Holton in Nov 1944 to return to the USA - the first 8th USAAF Bomb Group thus redeployed. They flew 106 missions and lost 29 B-24s. Two of their B-24s collided in mid-air over Walberswick on 27 Sept 1944 with the loss of 20 airmen.

The memorial to the wartime tragedy on the Earl of Stradbroke's Estate at Henham Park is impressive, but recent research by Dutch US casualty researcher Jan Hey MBE, has revealed a number of unfortunate errors on the inscribed details. At 10.45 am on 29 March 1944, two B-24 Liberator bombers of the 93rd Bomb Group from Hardwick, Norfolk, collided in mid-air whilst heading out on a daylight mission to France, and crashed about 300 yds apart in open ground at Henham. Only three of the crew were able to bale out and survive. The memorial makes mention of "...a Bombardier known unto God", but this is in error as one of the two was flying without a Bombardier. Sixteen (and not seventeen) crewmen therefore, died in the two crashed bombers, and all are named in 93BG records. The memorial also makes reference to 19 USAAF servicemen being killed by the explosion of a 2,000-lb bomb in the wreckage of one B-24 whilst crash and rescue teams were on the scene . Detailed research by Mr Hey, and correspondence with the American Battle Monuments Commission (the US equivalent of our own Commonwealth War Graves Commision) has led him to conclude that only five men were killed in the post-crash explosion. Even so, this was the worst loss of life resulting from a wartime aircraft crash in Suffolk in WW 2.

The memorial was erected by the 6th Earl of Stradbroke and dedicated in March 1994 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the tragedy.

This is the 94th Bombardment Group pillar, located at the Abbey Gardens, Bury St Edmunds.

The 94th were based at nearby Rougham with B-17 Fortesses between June 1943 and December 1945. During the course of 324 missions, the 94th lost 153 bombers MIA.
The memorial was dedicated on 15 October 1977. The location is MR (sheet 155) 856641.

Also located in the Abbey Gardens are three memorial seats, one of which is made from alloy from a B-17 and inscribed: "1945 Presented to the City (sic) of Bury St Edmunds by the US Army Air Forces".

The Bardwell memorial is dedicated to the men of the 388th Bomb Group, part of the 8th USAAF's 3rd Air Division. The statistics on the memorial are a grim reminder of the cost of daylight bombing over Nazi Germany and the occupied countries by one American B-17 Fortress Group between 1943-45. B-17s of the 388th took part in the infamous Schweinfurt/Regensburg raid of 17 August 1943, escaping lightly with only one of the 21 bombers despatched MIA (Missing In Action). For this action, the 388th were awarded the first of two Distinguished Unit Citations. In addition to daylight bombing missions the Group also conducted some of the first Allied experiments with radio-controlled "flying bomb" aircraft, code-named project APHRODITE. These missions however, were flown from nearby Fersfield.
The chain on the memorial is a symbolic "chain of opression" around Europe being broken by a B-17 Fortress.
The memorial was dedicated on 17 May 1986. The OS map ref is (144) 968783..

Many thanks go to my friend and colleague Bob Collis (Aviation Historian) of the Lowestoft Aviation Society for the histories of the airfields and units to which these memorials relate.