A call to their legacy, Memorial Day in Madingley

  • Published
  • By Dave Bedford
  • Superintendent Cambridge American Cemetery
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  "IN PROUD AND GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THOSE MEN OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCE WHO FROM THESE FRIENDLY ISLES FLEW THEIR FINAL FLIGHT AND MET THEIR GOD. THEY KNEW NOT THE HOUR THE DAY NOT THE MANNER OF THEIR PASSING. WHEN FAR FROM HOME THEY WERE CALLED TO JOIN THAT HEROIC BAND OF AIRMEN WHO HAD GONE BEFORE. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE."

These are the poignant words written in mosaic on the ceiling of the chapel in the cemetery that is called by American aviators, Madingley. Memorial Day in England has been held at this site since 1944 when the fathers of the modern Air Force came to pay homage to that "Heroic Band of Airmen" who had gone before.

4,589 of the 8,939 commemorated at the Cambridge (Madingley) American Cemetery are Airmen. Many of those are lost never to have a known resting place, their names inscribed on the Wall of the Missing. They perished over the North Atlantic, the English Channel and enemy territory where they faced a determined enemy who was brazen upon their destruction. The only witness to their plight, the official Missing Air Crew Reports of their fellow squadron members: "the plane was so badly damage, we saw no parachutes" or a like statement being made at the debrief after a mission. Their names on the wall give witness of their passing.

Some of the aviators buried in Madingley were lost because of the tremendous horrors of flight. Their parting was often marked with a red flare as a disabled aircraft signaled dead and wounded on board when they approached their home airfield in England. The airmen often faced eight hours of being on an oxygen mask, with temperatures at minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and at times flak so thick they felt as though they could walk on it, with the nimble nightmare enemy fighters that drove fear into the hearts of every bomber crew. The harshness and horrors of flight would claim their lives. The ground crews waited anxiously at the designated time, waiting in quiet desperation to see if their crew would return to base.

Some of the brave Airmen who rest there were in pursuit of the impossible. The impossible being the assembly of 1,000 aircraft over East Anglia with limited visibility. They died in mid-air collisions. It is said by aircraft controllers of today that putting 1,000 aircraft in the sky over East Anglia was impossible. They are correct as too often aircraft collided, resulting in the aviators' untimely death. Lieutenant Ellis, 398th Bomb Group, and crew were such a case colliding with another aircraft in very poor weather over the assembly area. Lt. Ellis nursed his severely damaged Flying Fortress toward the ground, the altitude too low for his crew to parachute to safety. He steered clear of Cheshunt and Waltham Cross villages, saving the lives of the villagers but losing his life and the lives of all on board. The lieutenant and two of his crew are interred permanently at Madingley.

Each year drawn to this a sacred place called Madingley, in the ritual of homage. Surviving veterans of those days return to pay respects to their friends and buddies who have passed on before. Their sorrow is deep and though age has crippled their bodies, their hearts will them the strength to come to wish a silent prayer or thought to their fallen friends. They return to Madingley for Memorial Day.