Using narrative accounts and new insights this book catalogues the
dramatic and firsthand oral testimonies of the US Army Air Corps' bomber
crews of the newly created Eighth Air Force that became stationed in
East Anglia in 1942.
It begins with shock of the unannounced Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
and how it affected the young men who were destined to fly and fight in
Europe. American troops, or GIs as they were known because of their own
derisive term of 'General Issue', began arriving in war-weary Britain in
the months immediately after Pearl Harbor. Bomber and fighter groups
made an especial impact. The young Americans with their well-cut
uniforms, new accents and money, created a colorful heroic chapter in
the lives of the British people that is still remembered today. The
Americans and the villagers and townsfolk of East Anglia shared a close
attachment that only wartime can create. England between 1942-45 was a
battle front. The civilians were all involved in the war effort - as
shipyard and factory workers, Red Cross and Land Army, farmers and
firemen. Above all they were stubborn, determined fighters who had
already endured more than three years of war. Into these lives came the
sights and sounds - particularly the jargon - of the Americans,
unprepared for the difficulties of flying in Britain's and Northern
Europe's unpredictable and difficult weather. It is the story of the
American's first encounters with the Luftwaffe, heavy Nazi air defenses
and the wartime strictures that Britain had already endured for three
years. These are their memories.
