Monument

Camp Griffiss - USAAF

Inscription

{On the plaque on top of the 5-sided plinth:}
This tablet marks the site of the European Headquarters of the United States Army Air Forces July 1942 – December 1944 and is dedicated by the Royal Air Force to their comrades-in-arms. 

It is through fraternity that liberty is saved - Victor Hugo.

The quotation from Hugo is very well-chosen. He was exiled from France for 15 years and returned the day after the fall of Napoleon III's empire. When he arrived at Paris Gare du Nord, he made a brief speech to the crowd gathered to give him a hero's welcome, from which the quotation comes.

Site: Camp Griffiss - USAAF and the Berlin Airlift (2 memorials)

TW11, Bushy Park

The hard-standing is attractively laid out with slabs, bricks and tiles making a 5-sided star pattern. The girl on the bike, Beth, kindly agreed to appear in some of our photos to provide scale and colour.

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Camp Griffiss - USAAF

Subjects commemorated i

World War 2

Sorry, we've done no research on WW2, it's just too big a subject. But do vis...

Read More

Camp Griffiss / Widewing

WW2 US military base in Bushy Park named after the first American aviator kil...

Read More

USAAF - European HQ

The HQ of the United States Army Air Forces moved from London to Camp Griffis...

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Camp Griffiss - USAAF

Created by i

Royal Air Force

Formed 1st April 1918 at Hotel Cecil, 80 the Strand where it had its first he...

Read More

Victor Hugo

Novelist, poet and dramatist, best known in the UK for Les Misérables, 1862, ...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Camp Griffiss - USAAF

Also at this site i

Berlin Airlift

Berlin Airlift

Referring to Camp Griffiss in Bushy Park, this very useful document says "Aft...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Peace Pagoda

Peace Pagoda

SW11, Battersea Park

Between 1947 and 2000 eighty peace pagodas were built around the world by the Nipponzan Myohoji Japanese Buddist movement, led by Nichida...

2 subjects commemorated
Deptford war memorial

Deptford war memorial

SE14, Lewisham Way

The memorial is now in the Borough of Lewisham. Deptford ceased to exist as a separate borough in 1965. Wagstaff created the two figures...

3 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
Waltham Forest Town Hall war memorial

Waltham Forest Town Hall war memorial

E17, Forest Road

The expression "our glorious dead" suggests that this memorial was raised to the dead in the armed forces only and not to any civilian dead.

War dead | Other war
4 subjects commemorated
Croydon Tram Derailment - Sandilands

Croydon Tram Derailment - Sandilands

CR0, Addiscombe Road

This memorial is close to the crash site. There is another in New Addington.

8 subjects commemorated
8th London Howitzers

8th London Howitzers

SE18, Plumstead Common Road, Plumstead Common

The way this monument meets the sloping ground has been well thought out: a small platform edged with a low ridge and connected to the pa...

2 subjects commemorated