This memorial, photographed by "Boreenatra" and used with his permission, is to be found inside the church of St Augustine of Canterbury in Birdbrook, Essex.

The story of the plaque in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury at Birdbrook, Essex.

In early March 1998 a long-standing resident of Birdbrook, and one who recalls the crash well, Mr. Eddie Pearson, mentioned to the Rector how fitting it would be to remember, in the church, the victims of the crash. In late March the Parochial Church Council gladly accepted the idea, and it was decided to explore the possibility of installing a stained-glass window. It was hoped that it would be possible to trace and contact relatives of the airmen, and rekindle parish links with the U.S. thus giving the Millennium celebrations an international dimension.

Nearly 100 letters were sent to people in America by the Rev. Michael Hewitt, rector of Ridgewell in the hope of tracing relatives of ten American airmen killed when their plane crashed at Bailey Hill Farm, Birdbrook in 1944. Mr. Hewitt heard from three of the families and one woman, Mrs. Dorothy Bemis from Kansas, who had been married to one of the airmen, travelled, with her daughter, from her home in the States for a commemorative church service in Birdbrook on March 26.

A plaque engraved with the names of the men, who were mostly in their late teens or early 20s, was dedicated at the service.The men from the 381st Bomber Group at Ridgewell, were in a B-17 Flying Fortress which crashed at Bailey Hill Farm. All the crew died. The 1451 (Haverhill) ATC (Air Training Corps) provided the guard of honour.

Mr. Hewitt felt the presence of Mrs. Bemis "represented the other nine families"

Mrs Bemis, from Hays, had been anticipating this Memorial Day for what seems like an eternity. Fifty-six years after her husband's death in World War II, this is the first Memorial Day that she can claim a sense of closure.

When the Japanese released their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Ralph Bemis was a sophomore at Kansas State University. "Some of the male students came back (after Christmas vacation), but some of them just stayed home because they knew they were going to be drafted," she said. "By the end of the first semester, it was basically a women's campus." She remembers working for the college newspaper and "writing obituary after obituary after obituary" - all the while, her sweetheart was studying in the Army Air Force Cadet program. She added, "Ralph enlisted as soon as Pearl Harbor was attacked - that way he was ahead of some of the college students that were drafted."

As he pursued his military training, Ralph remained at Kansas State University. In July of 1943 Ralph and Dorothy Bemis were married in the air base chapel in Enid, Oklahoma. "We had five months together," she said. Then, in January 1944, after 2nd Lt. Ralph Bemis' graduation, he was sent into the European Theater. "After he got his wings, they were pretty sure that they were going to England," she said. After his first two months in Europe, he was called in as a replacement co-pilot for a mission on March 24, 1944. "The original co-pilot had reported ill and he was called in to substitute," she recalls. "The doctors checked them out every morning."

Loaded with a first aid kit, an emergency ration of dried food and some escape tools, Ralph Bemis took the co-pilot's seat aboard the B-17. He was one of 10 crew men on board that day. Then something went wrong and the plane went down. There were no survivors of the crash. At just 23, Ralph was one of the first from Ellis County to die in World War II. "It was a brand new plane, they had never used it," Dorothy Bemis said. "They were a new crew; they had only been in for two weeks." but no matter her justification tools, Mrs Bemis, who kept her same last name after she married Robert "Guy" Bemis - her first husband's younger brother - said there had never been a way to combat the horrific thoughts that plagued her.



Ironically, a week before her trip, one of her daughters and son-in-law were vacationing in England. They were able to make special arrangements with the parish to visit the crash site. "At the site, they found a live bullet just laying there," she said. "That field had been plowed over all these years." so one week later, Dorothy and another daughter, Faye Palmer, Wichita, flew into Cambridge just days before the official memorial service was to take place at the parish. While in Cambridge, she visited the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, the place where her husband had first been buried. His body remained there, part of a group burial, until the war was over and his body was flown to Zachary Taylor Memorial Cemetery in Louisville, Ky. "We were famous people there," she said. "People wanted to shake my hand. I've never had so many hugs and kisses in my life." She added, "The people there loved the American soldiers."

Mrs.Bemis, the only relative that was able to attend the memorial - was asked to speak about her first husband. She said it was not until she had spent some time with the local people that she could have thought about writing her speech. "I never trembled. It was like being with family," she said. "It was a very touching and warm service." Throughout her visit, she said there were multiple times that she was awed by her English hosts. For this particular parish, British rule demands that only the Saint George flag be raised from the church flag pole. "But they flew the United States flag everyday that we were there. They had to adapt their flag pole to make it work," she said. "I said 'won't you get into trouble,' and they felt that this was more important."

Now a granite memorial wall inside the Saint Augustine Birdbrook church, lists the names of the 10-member crew that died near that community. Historians believe the church dates back to the 11th century. "Bless their hearts, they don't even have a memorial for the boys who died from their own parish, but that's what they're doing next," she said. "That granite plaque will be there for another 1,000 years. It gave me chills one day thinking about it."