My Tribute to America

Hi folks,

well we have arrived at ........

This a dull grey building is the centre of this small town south of Lake Okeechobee.

.

In the Museum there is a corner dedicated to the British Airmen that were trained at the Riddle Airfield close to Clewiston.

There were some 1800 airmen trained by the Americans BEFORE they entered the war. Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt had a pack that as the Americans were not in the war and did not want the Germans to know so it was done in secret.

Initially crop dusters were used to fly over the lake shown in the last blog and many lives were lost and 24 were buried with full military honours at Arcadia,  a small town close by, the cemetery has a sectioned off plot with a Union Jack flying from there.

Very fitting a bunch of poppies lay on a glass cabinet which has artifacts relating to the training.

One of the planes used to train the British Pilots, all top secret and a special code was used.

There is a film made and hopefully I will have one sent to me by the curator.

A group of trainee pilots with their instructors and planes at Riddle Airfield.

Riddle who owned and whose airfield was used was fittingly buried along with the British trainee pilots in the cemetery in Arcadia.

One of the many American families that took the trainee pilots in to their homes to help which I think was a great gesture on their part.

Thanks for looking and thank the American people who helped us in our hour of need even before they entered the war. We owe them a lot as without their help we could have lost the war.

 God Bless America, Mike and Sue.