Article by Judith Schrut, email Judith
As well as those eagerly awaited royal nuptials, Spring 2018 marks the 72nd anniversary of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s 1946 ‘special relationship’ speech, in which he publicly bravo-ed the close US-UK cultural and historical ties. Although that relationship has been celebrated, tested, challenged and changed over the decades since, there is no doubting the many strong and enduring
American Air Museum, Duxford, copyright IWM
British-American connections.
Whether you have an academic or more personal interest in World War II US-UK links, the American Air Museum near Cambridge is a highly recommended must-see. With striking, award-winning architecture by Norman Foster, the Museum houses the largest collection of American aircraft outside the USA and is a fitting tribute to the 30,000 Americans who died after flying from UK air bases during the war.
You can also pay a visit to the nearby Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, where thousands of American military personnel are buried or honoured. This includes over 5,000 names engraved in stone on the Walls of the Missing. And it’s always worth a detour to Cambridge itself, where we recommend a pint at The Eagle, the city’s oldest pub and steeped in historic charm. Be sure to check out the pub’s unique RAF Bar, where American and British fighter pilots socialised before setting off on their dangerous missions. Although many never did return, their names and moving messages are etched forever into the ceiling with Zippo lighters, candles and lipstick.
There are lots of other memorials to noted Americans dotted around the UK, including Pocahontas, Tom Paine and Whistler. You’ll also find statues of FDR and Ike in Grosvenor Square, Abraham Lincoln in Parliament Square, George Washington outside the National Gallery, and Martin Luther King as one of the 20th century Christian martyrs carved above the doorway of Westminster Abbey. Virginia Quay Settlers Monument in Blackwall, East London, remembers the 105 “adventurers”– men, women and children - who sailed from here in 1606 in three small ships and went on to found Jamestown, the first English colony in North America.
Further information:
www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/ europe/cambridge-americancemetery
