It was exactly eighty years ago in December 1943 when American Army Air Force personnel from a local base distributed goodies to Wymondham children as they filed past the open front of Alf Harvey’s fish and chip shop in Damgate Street. Military police controlled the traffic and looked after the long queue of the town’s excited youngsters, whose treats like sweets and biscuits were limited during World War Two.
The popular and generous Yanks also held a party that Christmas at the Senior School, now Wymondham High Academy, for over 300 pupils from Browick Road Infant and Junior Schools. The pupils were addressed by Father Gerald Beck, the Catholic chaplain of the 389th Bomb Group’s Hethel base. Children from outlying districts and some surrounding villages were entertained at nearby air bases.
