Official Publication of the: Volume 45 Number 3 Fall 2006 The American Connections with St. Paul’s REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM “DOME”• THE MAGAZINE OF THE FRIENDS OF ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL (LONDON), EDITION 43 Lay Canon Peter Chapman reports on the cleaning and restoration of the American Memorial Chapel and the service which followed he American connections Twith St. Paul’s go back many years. There are two visible signs of these. The first is the Memo- rial in the Crypt to Pilot Officer Billy Fiske who died in the Bat - tle of Britain. Billy was the first American pilot to die in the Allied cause, having told the recruiting officer he was Canadian! The second, of course, is the Ameri - can Memorial Chapel at the east end of the cathedral, behind the High Altar. The Chapel was consecrated by Her Majesty The Queen in 1958 and commemorates the lives of 28,000 Americans who died in the Second World War whilst based in Britain. It hous - es the Roll of Honor which lists the names of all 28,000 service people and was presented to the Cathedral, for perpetual safe keeping, by General Eisenhower at a service held on 24 July 1951. The Chapel had not yet been com menced then but the money for it had been raised entirely from the British people. The story of these events is record - ed in a beautiful pamphlet on sale in the Crypt Shop. Cleaning and restoration Turning to the present, it was originally considered unneces- sary to have the Chapel cleaned and restored as part of the mar- vellous renovation of the in side of the Cathedral. This decision was reversed when it became The American Memorial Chapel (continued on page 2) Photograph courtesy of Sampson Lloyd ST. PAULʼS (continued from page 1) A moving and memorable occasion Chapter was represented by Canon Warn- apparent that, al - The service was expertly crafted by er, Canon Lucy Winkett and myself, and though the Chapel Simon Reynolds and overseen by Canon we met the U.S. veterans and their fami- was relatively new, Martin Warner. Hugh Williams organised lies. Sir Robert Gibbs was there as chair- it looked dirty and a small choir who sang quite beautifully. man of the St. Paul’s Cathedral Foun - drab when compared It was an historical event because I can- dation and Mr. Tony Iverson represented with the surrounding not re call a service for those Americans Bomber Command. cleaned stone. who served in the War being held there be - As usual, all the Cathedral staff rallied The St. Paul’s Ca - fore. Some fifty people were present and round to help the veterans, all of whom th edral Trust in Amer- the American community was led by the were in their eighties. It was a moving Lay Canon Peter Chapman ica was continuing to American Ambassador, Mr. Robert Tuttle. and memorable occasion, and from the raise the money to pay for this work. letters of thanks received, deeply appre- To celebrate the cleaning and restor- ciated. It will be wonderful if we can now tion, I put the idea to Chapter that a short raise the funds to enable the Roll of Honor service and reception should be held. to be placed on the Internet so that it is Chap ter endorsed this proposal and on ac cessible to veterans and their families 17 November 2005 the event took place. wherever they may live. We were able to make contact with two A short reception was held in the South of the American veterans’ associations — Transept following the service when the the 8th Air Force Historical Society and the visitors were welcomed by Canon Warner. 2nd Air Division Association. Mr. Belton I then gave a short address giving the his- Wolf of the former society and Mr. torical background which was responded Matthew Martin of the latter assisted us to by the Ambassador. Mr. Tuttle remind- with the organisation. The key linkage had, ed his audience that at the height of the however, to be with the American Em - Blitz, Churchill gave the instruction that bassy, which gave us marvellous support. St. Paul’s was to be “saved at all costs.” All agreed that a celebration for the res - I hope this short account will be of in - tored chapel and an act of worship sixty terest to our American members and to years after the cessation of hostilities was The American Roll of Honor the U.K. Friends who so often meet the deeply worthwhile. Image courtesy of Patrick Wilkins Cathedral’s many American visitors. ■ The Order of Service of Commemoration and Dedication On 4 July 1951 the Order of Service of Commemoration and Ded- ication brochure contained the following text: uring the years of the Second World War, when the peoples Dof Britain and the United States once more united in a com- mon endeavor and common sacrifices in the defense of liberty, 28,000 Americans of the armed forces lost their lives and were buried in the British Isles, or died in operations when based upon the British Isles. These dead had served in the United States Navy, the Merchant Navy, Army or Army Air Force, or were American nationals serving in British or Canadian formations. The great American cemetery at Cambridge, like the American cemetery at Brookwood of the earlier war, marks the last resting place of many who gave their lives, but the majority of the dead, partic- ularly among those who fought in air battles over Europe, have no known grave. There are numerous local memorials in Britain to the Amer- ican dead. Most are the gifts of their American comrades who survived; some are wholly British offerings; others still repre- sent the joint homage of an American fighting unit and an Eng- lish village community. They are diverse in form. Thus in parish churches in East Anglia chapels have been dedicated to the mem- ory of the fallen who were stationed at nearby American heavy bomber bases, a fourteenth-century English chapel has been re - stored, a memorial organ in a Devonshire parish church dedicat- ed in honor of the dead who were in American naval contingents operating from a neighboring base, a memorial tower erected on the sea shore, a plaque erected at the side of a road, a stained- glass window presented to the garrison church of the two Staff - ordshire infantry regiments, a village community recreation cen- tre established. All these are tributes, rich in local and intimate British-American associations, to the memory of those Americans Image courtesy of Patrick Wilkins Image courtesy of Patrick (continued on page 34) 2 THE SECOND AIR DIVISION ASSOCIATION President’s Message: traces its initial meeting to 1948 in Chicago, Illi - nois. It was organized as a nonprofit corporation Second to None B-24 Liberator Campaign in the State of Illinois on January 10, 1950. Mem - bers of the original Board of Directors were 2nd Air Division veterans Marilyn Fritz, Howard W. and the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum Moore, Jordan R. Uttal, and Percy C. Young. The association’s purpose is to advocate and sup port BY ALAN SENIOR, 2ADA PRESIDENT an adequate, effective and efficient Army, Navy s President of the Second Air Divi- and Air Force at all times; to perpetuate the friend - ships and memories of service to ge ther in the A sion Association, I am an ex-officio 2nd Air Division, 8th Air Force in England during member of the Mighty Eighth Air Force World War II; to support financially, and in any Mu seum 2006 Board of Trustees. Walter other way, the Memorial Trust of the 2nd Air Division as represented by the 2nd Air Div i sion E. Brown, president and CEO of the Memorial Library of the Norwich Millennium Li - museum, invited me to attend the tenth brary; and to under take such other activities as anni versary trustee meeting weekend may from time to time be deemed appropriate beginning Friday, May 19, 2006. by the membership. Additionally, it provided an opportu- REGULAR (VOTING) MEMBERSHIP in the asso ciation is limited to those personnel, mili- nity to review the Second to None Libera- tary and civilian, American or British, who at any tor exhibit museum space and have a dis- time served with the Headquar ters organization cussion with the Trustees concerning the of the 2nd Bomb Wing, 2nd Bomb Division or 2nd Air Division dur ing World War II and any person content of the exhibit. The nose section who served with any bomb group or fighter group of a B-24D, Fightin’ Sam, on loan from or any other unit of the 2nd Air Division assigned the American Air Museum in Britain at or attached. Provisions are made for Associate Duxford, will be the focal point of the Sec - (Non-Voting) memberships and also for subscrib- ond to None exhibit. If any of our 2ADA ing memberships (Non-Voting). members have memorabilia that they wish We make every effort to mail your Journal with - in 90 days of the article submission deadlines of to be included in the exhibit, please con- February 15, June 15, and November 15. Your re - tact me. Walt Brown has asked a museum ceipt of the Journal will be any where from one design firm to come to the museum for to four weeks later, de pend ing on the U.S. Postal 2ADA President Alan Senior at the Mighty Service — es pecially your own post office.If you the purpose of study and then they will don’t get your Journal by the next deadline, con- present sketches for our consideration.