A step back in time
Warrant Officer Aircrew
Richard A. Pearson
#1150784. Royal Air Force
c/o 22 Grove Gardens
Teddinton,
Middlesex
England
19 August 1948
To.
His Honour The Mayor
Red. Oaks.
Iowa
U.S.A.
Dear Sir.
I hope you will excuse our presumption in writing you.
We are two English boys who have just returned home from occupation duties in Germany. My Pal, Dick Herring, who is writing this letter with me is a corporal tank-commander of the 14th/20th King Own Hussars.
Whilst in Germany, my mother sent me a copy of the Saturday Evening Post, which when I had read it, I sent it to my pal. It was a very old copy, and it contained an article about your town and the gallant contribution that it had made in World War II.
We wanted to write to you, Sir, to say a simple and heartfelt “Thank You,” for that contribution, because those lads of yours who died, were fighting in defense of our home town just as much as their own.
Without them, and their comrades of the U.S. Forces, our town would now have a Nazi Gauleiter.
In 1940, England stood alone against the most powerful army in Europe, Hitler Wehomacht (sic).
To those of us who struggled back from the beaches of Dunkirk, England appeared to be finished. Food was low, arms and munitions of all types were scarce. My squadron had only three serviceable aircraft, while Dick’s regiment had lost its entire armoured strength in France. My father, who at 65 had joined the Home Guard, was equipped with a pick-handle to repel the expected invasion.
Yes things looked pretty bad. Then, like manna from heaven American Lease-Lend help arrived.
My squadron was equipped with American aircraft. Dick’s regiment, fighting in Africa was issued with American Sherman tanks. My father was issued with an American rifle and bayonet, and my mother’s larder was stocked with American foods. Which literally kept the people of this country alive.
Now, we had a hope of winning. It gave us new life, and a new determination. On the night-raids over Germany, as an air-gunner, I fired an American Browning machine-gun, fed with ammunition made in America.
But for us the most heartening sight was yet to come. That sight was the thousands of Americans who came to fight besides us, and turned the tide in our favour.
My mother entertained many of these boys, and when I met them at home, I came to like and respect them. They thought the same way we did, and we spoke the same language, in more than one sense.
Well Sir, this letter from two English boys is just a big “Thank You” for all that your country and your boys, did for our country.
I sometimes think that the boys who feel (sic), never really died at all. That they live on, and the memory of the things they died fighting for, decency, tolerance, freedom, and the free way of life can inspire those of us who are left, to uphold those principles for which they paid so dearly.
Some people over here, say that in view of the present International Situation and the likelihood of another war, all those boys died in vain. Don’t you believe it. The (sic) died fighting to free half the world from slavery, and if we should all have to go to war again, for those same principles, that our two nation (sic) should have shoulder to shoulder again, we could want no finer comrades that the men from your country.
I am sure that you will never forget the memory of your lost boys, neither shall we. We honour them because they are representative of all American boys who came to our aid, and who died in a fight which they neither wanted nor were responsible for.
Once again Sir, I hope you will excuse our presumption in writing, but felt that few people have ever said Thank You to America for what she has done and is doing for the cause of peace and freedom in Europe, and we felt that it was high time someone did.
May God send your town the prosperity, the peace, and the happiness it has so hardly won and justly deserved.
Yours Sincerely,
Richard A. Pearson
Richard S. Herring
This letter is from the archives of the Montgomery County History Center and the original will be going on display at 2700 N. 4th Street in Red Oak.