On the west side of the junction.

A granite block, within a stone platform, upon which is fixed a bronze plaque commemorating the officers and men of the 385th Heavy Bombardment Group, USAAF, who gave their lives 1943-44. The plaque is inscribed in English in raised and capital lettering. On the top-center of the plaque is the insignia of the 385^th Bombardment Group in relief. The memorial is accessed by steps.

Great Ashfield was re-built for the USAAF in 1942 and assigned designation Station 155. The first aircraft to land on the station is believed to have been a battle-damaged B-26 Marauder returning from a raid over the Netherlands on 17 May 1943.

The airfield was opened on 19 June 1943 and was used by the United States Army Air Forces, Eighth Air Force, 385th Bombardment Group (Heavy). The 385th arrived from Great Falls AAF Montana and was assigned to the 93d Combat Bombardment Wing. The group tail code was a "Square-G". Its operational squadrons were:

• 548th Bombardment Squadron (GX)
• 549th Bombardment Squadron (XA)
• 550th Bombardment Squadron (SG)
• 551st Bombardment Squadron (HR)

The group flew Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign.

The 385th BG operated primarily as a strategic bombardment organization until the war ended, striking such targets as industrial areas, air bases, oil refineries, and communications centers in Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway. The group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for bombing an aircraft factory at Regensburg on 17 August 1943 after a long hazardous flight over enemy territory.

The group led the 4th Bomb Wing a great distance through heavy and damaging opposition for the successful bombardment of an aircraft repair plant at Zwickau on 12 May 1944, being awarded another DUC for this performance. Other strategic targets included aircraft factories in Oschersleben and Marienburg, battery works in Stuttgart, airfields in Beauvais and Chartres, oil refineries in Ludwigshafen and Merseburg, and marshalling yards in Munich and Oranienburg.

Sometimes supported ground forces and struck interdictory targets. Attacked coastline defenses in June 1944 in preparation for the Normandy invasion and hit marshaling yards and choke points during the landing on D-Day. Bombed enemy positions in support of ground forces at Saint-Lô in July 1944. Attacked German communications and fortifications during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945. Bombed troop concentrations and communications centers in Germany and France, March–April 1945, to assist the final thrust into Germany.

On 6 March 1944 raid to Berlin (the most costly mission the Eighth ever carried out) the 3rd Division commander, Brigadier General Russell Wilson, took off from Great Ashfield in a radar-equipped B-17 in a leading group of the 385th. All of the 385th aircraft returned safely ... all that is except the one carrying General Wilson which was seen to take several hits from flak setting one engine on fire. Although four of the crew managed to parachute to safety (including Medal of Honor hero First Lieutenant John C. Morgan), eight of the others were killed when the bomber exploded.

After V-E Day, the 385th Bomb Group hauled prisoners of war from Germany to Allied centers and flew food to the Netherlands. The group returned to Sioux Falls AAF South Dakota on 28 August 1945 and was inactivated.

Source of information: www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk, en.wikipedia.org

Source of images: www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk

IN MEMORIAM

OF THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE 385TH HEAVY

BOMBARDMENT GROUP, U.S. ARMY AIR FORCES WHO

GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE AIR BATTLES OVER

EUROPE 1943 - 1944. THIS PLAQUE IS PLACED

HERE BY THE COMRADES OF THOSE MEN AS

AN EVERLASTING TRIBUTE TO THEIR HEROIC

SACRIFICE AND UNSELFISH DEVOTION TO DUTY

MCMXLIV