To the left of the 94^th Bombardment Group monument.

A bench made from the wing of a USAAF B17 Flying Fortress bomber aircraft. At the center of the backrest is a small plaque bearing a small message written in English in incised lettering with the USAAF roundel. This plaque is presented to the people of the city by the USAAF.

RAF Bury St Edmunds which is just 5 minutes from the town center was home for the 322nd Bomb Group and the 94th Bomb Group of the USAAF 8th Airforce whose contribution to the Allies strategic bombing offensive helped turn the tide of war against the Nazis and free occupied Europe. 

The 94th Bomb Group flew the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign and served chiefly as a strategic bombardment organization throughout the war.

From the Battlefield Explorer Website:

This unassuming bench in Bury St Edmunds is actually made out of the wing of a B-17 bomber. It sits in the John Appleby Rose Garden in the Abbey Gardens, a memorial to the Americans of the Mighty Eighth who died flying from Suffolk's airfields. The garden is named after Tech Sgt John Tate Appleby of the 487th Bomb Group at Lavenham, who fell in love with the county and wrote the book Suffolk Summer in 1948. He gave the copyright to the town council so royalties would maintain this place as a permanent memorial.

Source of information: Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register, en.wikipedia.org

Source of photos: Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register

19 (-USAAF roundel-) 45

PRESENTED TO

THE CITY OF BURY ST. EDMUNDS

BY THE U.S. ARMY AIR FORCES