Olympic torch to pass near East Anglia bases July 7

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Kevin Wallace
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE MILDENHALL, England --  The Olympic torch will begin its 70-day journey in Land's End, Cornwall, May 19, and 8,000 torchbearers will be carr it until it reaches its final destination at the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London, July 27.

The torch will travel throughout England, the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Walesand will be on display as it travels along thousands of different roads during the journey.

Airmen based at Royal Air Forces Mildenhall and Lakenheath's best opportunity to view the torch locally will be when it travels from Chelmsford to Cambridge July 7.

The torch is scheduled to be carried down various roads (including the A143 and A1101) in Bury St. Edmunds around 3:30 p.m., and is expected to travel down Newmarket's High Street around 5:30 p.m. The torch should finalize the day's journey in Cambridge shortly after 6 p.m.

BBC News released street-by-street routes March 19, and daily routes can be viewed by visiting www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17358291.

According to www.olympic.org, the Olympics began in Olympia, Greece, in 776 B.C. The Olympic torch has been a symbol of the Olympic Games, and commemorates the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus.

London is the only U.K. city to have hosted the Olympic Games, and has done so twice previously. London hosted the Summer Olympics in 1908 and was scheduled to host the Summer Games again in 1944; however, the Olympics were cancelled due to World War II.

After the war, the Olympics resumed and London hosted the Summer Games in 1948, the first games held after the war.

The 100th Air Refueling Wing history and legacy of the Square D has been talked and written about many times over the years. The last opportunity Airmen had to see the Olympic torch in the U.K. was prior to the 1948 games, and was witnessed by the men and women of the 100th Bomb Group.

This year, Team Mildenhall and the Airmen of the nearby Liberty Wing will have the chance to once again see history unfold before their eyes, and stand on the same ground and bear witness to the same event as the Airmen of RAF Mildenhall's heroic past.