To the generation that came after we Yanks went home

In the early 40,s we came to England by the thousands and joined with your countrymen to form the greatest Air Armada the world has ever seen.  Victory was won, but at a great cost.  55,000 air crew for the R.A.F., and 47,000 for the U.S. 8th Air Force.  We were young and carefree and when we were not flying we were makin friends in your pubs.  Your grandparents invited us to share the comforts of their homes and the foodstuff that was always in short supply.  We were replacements for their sons, yuor fathers, who were fighting other wars in far away places.  Our friendships have endured over the years and many of us have returned for one last look as the shadows of life are long and our ranks are thinning.  Your grandparents had the courage to endure the hardships of war and we had the faith to win.  So, after some forty years, from failing hands we throw the torch:  be yours to hold it high and if you have the courage and faith of Bader, Tuck, Malan, Gibson, Martin , and Harris, then there will always be an England.

- F. E. Anderson

"Look upward! Jets above the cloud and in the thundar of their urgent way know evermore, their legacy endowed against all odds... Courage from yesterday."