Plaque

This memorial garden is situated in a larger municipal garden. John Appleby was a USAF serviceman who was stationed in Suffolk during WW2 and wrote a book about his experiences; 'Suffolk Summers'. he used the profits to fund the Rose Garden. There are eight war memorials of various designs and remembrance together with twelve memorial benches and several flower beds of dedicated to civilians and are not war memorials.

John Tate Appleby was born on June 10, 1907, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to George and Gertrude Appleby.He was journalist with both The Paris Times and The Washington Post. He arrived in England in March 1945 and was assigned to the 487th Bomb Group at Lavenham as a celestial navigation trainer who taught pilots to find targets using the stars during nighttime bombing raids. However, the European air war was almost over by the time Appleby arrive, leaving Appleby plenty of time to explore the Suffolk countryside. He wrote a book about his seven month stay in England titled 'Suffolk Summer', published in 1948. John Appleby gave the copyright to 'Suffolk Summer' to St Edmundsbury Borough Council so that all royalties would be used to maintain the Rose Garden in the Abbey Gardens as a permanent memorial to those Americans based in Bury St Edmunds who gave their lives during the war. The garden is named in his honor.

Source of information:

https://americanarchive.iwm.org.uk

https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/95023

BOROUGH OF BURY ST EDMUNDS/ OLD ENGLISH/ ROSE GARDEN

APPLEBY ROSE GARDEN

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS OLD ENGLISH ROSE GARDEN IS DUE TO THE GENEROSITYOF AN AMERICAN FRIEND OF THIS BOROUGH,

MR JOHN.T.APPLEBY WHO WAS STATIONED/ NEAR BURY ST. EDMUNDS DURING THE WAR  WHILST A MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES

 8TH AIR FORCE