Bill Donald and Bill Betts had been trying to get a memorial project underway and when the hanger was being demolished at Chelveston Airfield in 1999 the windsock mast was rescued. In 2003 permission for the memorial was sought and after fundraising to cover the expected cost of £12,000, it was finally started in 2006.

The American veterans who were able, had travelled to England for the unveiling of the 305^th Bombardment Group Memorial at Chelveston, and were staying at an hotel in Bedford. They and their wives were brought by bus and made a short stop to look at some of the assembled vehicles of the Military Vehicle Restoration group who were to travel in convoy, in their restored American Air Force vehicles, together with other period vehicles, to the memorial service and unveiling. All the vehicles and their proud owners had gathered in Higham Ferrers for a short processional drive to Chelveston village.

The cavalcade first drove to the old airfield site where the veterans could walk among them and exchange stories. One or two old cycles were also there, as that had been the preferred way for some of the service men to get around the camp when they were serving there. From the airfield the convoy travelled to the church for a service and an address by Father Grant Brockhouse, and they sang the American & United Kingdom National Anthems. Afterwards they wandered around the churchyard and laid wreaths under the memorial stone on the church wall, and then moved to the field behind the old village school.

Invited guests then enjoyed a lunch in the school where they all exchanged tales of their service days at the airfield. From there the veterans were driven down the hill and into the village, in a shuttle run by the owners of the old jeeps, where a large lorry had been parked in front of the memorial and it had an open side and chairs for the veterans to sit on and watch the proceedings.

After the dedication service a poem was read by its author, Margaret Hawkins (nee Eady) – “A Memorial of Thanks” - to the American men we called the Yanks - and then the unveiling of the memorial was followed by wreath laying.

Laying wreaths	The vane	The following day

It was a bright sunny day and at the end of what had been a long day for some, the veterans returned by coach to their hotel at Bedford.