THIRKELL SOCIETY

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I enjoyed very much the review of Angela Thirkell's Peace Breaks Out (June/July, page 66). Perhaps your readers would be interested to know that there is an Angela Thirkell Society–the main society is in Great Britain but there is a thriving North American branch with more than 400 members.

Anyone interested in joining the North American branch should contact Treasurer Vera Jordan, 3821 Regal Place, St. Louis, MO 63109-1512. The membership fee is $15, payable to Vera Jordan, Treasurer.

Sue Haley,
Tucson, Arizona

Editor's note: In addition to the official Angela Thirkell Society mentioned above, publisher Moyer Bell offers the 'Thirkell Circle', membership in which entitles you to: notice of all future Angela Thirkell books as they are published, an Angela Thirkell newsletter, and an official Angela Thirkell bookmark and poster. For free membership, write to: Thirkell Circle, Moyer Bell, Kymbolde Way, Wakefield, RI 02879.

CASTLES IN THE AIR

The article about Second World War American airfields (June/July, page 56) was terrific. More pictures and a longer feature would have been even better.

My father and brother were stationed in England with the Army Air Force. My brother was killed on 7th May, 1945 over the North Sea. His plane and many more were dropping food for Dutch civilians who were cut off and starving at the end of the War.

In 1992 I went back to their airfield with veterans of the 95th Bomb Group. These men had maintained contact with the village of Horham and had placed a memorial there.

The village church contains many memories of the Mighty Eighth. Embroidered kneelers have U.S.A.A.F. emblems, Flying Fortresses, and names depicted on them. But the church, which owns the oldest peal of eight bells in England, had not been able to ring its bells since 1933. The tower had deteriorated to the point where the reverberation of the immense bells would have destroyed it.

So the village and the 95th veterans collaborated in raising money. The bells were recast and the men of the village learned the engineering skills required to reinforce the tower. Meanwhile, an enthusiastic group of volunteers learned the art of traditional bell-ringing.

On 7th May, 1992 a memorial service was held in Horham Church, attended by 95th veterans and their English friends. A high point was the ringing of the bells, which had been blessed a few minutes before by the Bishop of Norwich.

The middle-aged men who had been the village kids 50 years ago were misty-eyed as they told me how they hero-worshipped the young air crews as they waved good-bye to them before their bombing runs, and how the village watched in silent grief at their homecoming, while ambulances waited. Some did not come back at all. The men all remembered the courage, cheerfulness, and good nature the air crews exhibited to the villagers.

Many people in the small English villages have the Sunday hobby of maintaining the small museums of Second World War memorabilia. Even more seem to have affectionate memories of the American 'invasion.'

Joyce F. Barrier
Riverside, California

Editor's note: We were pleased to receive many favourable comments about the feature on U.S. air bases in England and the veterans who served there. Several readers, however, also expressed regret that the feature was not longer. In fact, when the author, Chuck Dunning, first offered us the story, we were compelled to turn it down because his manuscript was far longer than we could handle in the limited space available to us in the magazine. Ultimately, Mr. Dunning was kind enough to allow us to print an abbreviated version of his article, and we appreciate his understanding of our physical and budgetary limitations. Fortunately, readers who would like to hear more about this subject, and who have access to the Internet, can find the longer version of the article on our website at http://www.thehistorynet.com/BritishHeritage/.

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