On an entrance gate to Milton Ernest Hall.

A rectangular bronze plaque, mounted on a brick pillar, inscribed in English in raised lettering. On the top-left corner is the insignia of the 8^th Air Force and on the opposite is the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force insignia.

During the Second World War, the hall was used as a base for Special Operations Executive, a small grass landing strip being laid on the grounds. In 1944 it became the United States Eighth Air Force's support command headquarters. US Army Air Force personnel, including musician Glenn Miller, were billeted at the hall and played a concert here on 16th July 1944. On 15 December 1944, Glenn Miller took off from RAF Twinwood Farm, in neighboring Clapham, on his last, ill-fated flight, and was last seen in public in the Queen's Head Hotel in Milton Ernest before he disappeared.

After the US Air Force vacated the Hall, it remained empty until 1968, when Ludwik Dobrzański purchased the property along with the surrounding grounds for £15,000. The family lived at the Hall until it was sold in 1971. In 1984, the hall was converted to a nursing home.

Source of information: bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk, en.wikipedia.org, placeandsee.com

Source of photos: waymarking.com

IN MEMORY OF ALL THE

PERSONNEL WHO SERVED

IN WORLD WAR II AT

MILTON ERNEST HALL

HEADQUARTERS USAAF EIGHTH AIR FORCE

SERVICE COMMAND STATION 608

1943 - 1946

ALSO

MAJOR GLENN MILLER

&

THE BAND OF THE ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

WHO WERE STATIONED HERE FROM

JULY TO DECEMBER 1944