The Friendly Invasion - A lasting legacy

In New Year 2024, Apple TV+ will stream their new $275m Masters of the Air drama, based on Donald L Miller’s book about The Friendly Invasion of US servicemen into the region during the Second World War.

MASTERS OF THE AIR

Like sister series Band of Brothers and The Pacific, it has been made by Tom Hanks’ Playtone and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin, and stars BAFTA and Golden Globe Best Actor and Oscar-nominated Elvis actor Austin Butler, Barry Keoghan from Dunkirk, The Banshees of Inisherin, The Batman and the Gladiator sequel, Callum Turner from the Fantastic Beasts franchise, Jude Law’s son Raff in his first major role, and the new Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa. Cary Fukunaga, director of Daniel Craig’s James Bond swansong No Time To Die directs the first three episodes.

The Friendly Invasion

At the height of the Second World War, Suffolk was the setting for a ‘Friendly Invasion’ which transformed the rural landscape and left a lasting legacy. The invaders were thousands of young Americans, part of the United States Eighth Air Force’s vast contribution to the Allies’ strategic bombing offensive being waged against Nazi-occupied Europe – the longest battle of the war.

By 1944, Suffolk echoed to the roar of B24 Liberators and B17 Flying Fortresses as huge aerial armadas took to the skies from a countryside so freckled with bomber bases that it became known as ‘Little America’.

It is no exaggeration to say that the arrival of 50,000 US servicemen in Suffolk in 1942 had the biggest cultural and landscape impact of any event since the Norman Conquest.

Hundreds of miles of concrete runway were laid in a matter of months (it took 250,000 tonnes of concrete to build one runway), and there was the introduction to our rationed region of peanut butter, donuts, chewing gum, popcorn and Coca Cola – all great news for dentists! Oh, and there were nylons, swing and the jitterbug too – although baseball didn’t catch on with the locals.

The Americans also brought with them segregation. It is shocking to us today, but many market towns had alternate days for black and white servicemen.

Did the fact that black servicemen were served by white people here, and were given equality by East Anglians, help ferment the American civil rights movement?

Of course, this was very much a Friendly Invasion! Not only did we give the Americans a warm welcome, there was also the matter of around 40,000 women who went to the United States at the end of war! In fact, two cruise liners had to be requisitioned to sail them.

February 20, 1942 was the day that the first US general, Brigadier General Ira C Eaker, arrived in the UK to form and organise the bomber command of the prospective Eighth Air Force –the guys who would be based here in what was before a very sleepy Suffolk. If the county was monochrome when they arrived, it was soon turned technicolour – just like The Wizard of Oz, released in 1939, the first year of the war!

The American Air Force’s first mission was on July 4, 1942. They were determined to go on that date for symbolic and propaganda reasons. What a message it would send –wanting to help Europe regain its independence from Nazism on their own Independence Day. Trouble is, their planes hadn’t turned up – so they had to use RAF bombers instead!

In total, 350,000 US servicemen transitioned through East Anglia during the war’s longest battle – 26,000 of them losing their lives.

One of the most poignant stories of the time was that of the man who should have become President of the United States, Joe Kennedy jnr. Flying out of Fersfield in Norfolk on a secret bombing mission, he was tragically killed in action over Blythburgh Church when the plane he was flying exploded mid-air. There’s a small memorial to him in the church.

Another plane on the mission was flown by Colonel Roosevelt, the son of the US President at the time.

Today, over 70 years after the war’s end, the trans-Atlantic ties remain strong and a grand alliance born of a common cause and shared sacrifice is kept alive by volunteerrun museums and memorials.

95th BOMB GROUP MUSEUM, HORHAM

The 95th was the first bomb group to carry out a daylight raid on Berlin. The museum is located on the site of the former NCOs’ club called the Red Feather Club. It features many personal stories and other artefacts within the museum, with original air raid shelters outside. There are two murals, along with the faithfully restored Brad’s Bar, which is used for club socials throughout the year. 95thbg-horham.com

493rd BOMB GROUP MUSEUM, DEBACH

Displays in the restored control tower show visitors how it would have looked in 1944. A number of buildings have been arranged to show medical facilities as well as life on the home front. Look out too for a number of restored military vehicles.

>493bgdebach.co.uk

The Swan At Lavenham

Atmospheric Lavenham feels like a medieval time capsule. Many US airmen congregated in 15th Century pub >The Swan. An inspiring collection of signatures and other mementos adorn the walls of the Airmen’s Bar. You could always have a go at the Boot Record, a challenge to drink three and a half pints of ale from a glass boot in record time. Various British units inscribed the results on the wall, which you can read today. Lavenham itself was a former centre of the wool industry, bypassed by the Industrial Revolution, and retains many of its original buildings, including a medieval guildhall.

Martlesham Heath Control Tower Museum

The base was home to RAF fighters during the Battle of Britain, then hosted the USAAF’s 356th Fighter Group. The restored control tower holds a number of displays recording the history of the base from preSecond World War to the 1960s. >mhas.org.uk

ROUGHAM CONTROL TOWER MUSEUM, BURY ST EDMUNDS

Rougham Control Tower Museum recalls the exploits of 322nd Bomb Group, including Brigadier General Frederick W Castle, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on Christmas Eve 1944. >rctam94th.co.uk

Raf Knettishall

A group of historically minded US airmen named their Flying Fortress Tom Paine in honour of the 18th Century English radical thinker – a supporter of American independence, born at nearby Thetford. Knettishall was home to the 388th Bomb Group, who flew missions into Europe from June 1943 until the end of the war. Underneath the name on the aircraft’s nose was a quote from Paine: “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered”. A well-meaning sentiment, it caused some controversy in Paine’s home town, where some still considered him a traitor to Britain! The base has now been returned to agricultural use, though there is a black granite memorial at the old entrance.