The FRIENDLY INVASION

Clare Boobyer tells the story of the GIs whose arrival caused quite a commotion in rural East Anglia during the Second World War

From the control tower windows, I can see overgrown air strips unfurl among the silent Norfolk fields of beet and wheat. Behind me, on the ground, green Nissen huts encapsulate the story of Americans whose planes once roared through the East Anglian skies. US air force pilots took off from converted RAF airfields, or dozens of hastily built new ones, in ‘Flying Fortress’ B-17 planes with 100-feet wing spans, and bombed Nazi-occupied Europe from the air – helping the Allied forces to victory in 1945. With their feet on English soil, the GIs danced to Glenn Miller’s music and shared chocolate, chewing gum and Coca Cola with nearby villagers. The restored control tower I am in belonged to the 100th Bombardment Group (H) of the United States’ Eighth Air Force. The first of…

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Discover Britain (Digital) - 1 Issue, October - November 2023

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