Tuesday, February 27, 2001

By Ron Jensen
U.K. bureau

Ron Jensen / Stars and Stripes The Rev. Gordon Unsworth, left, chaplain for the Royal Air Force Association in Sheffield, England, and Chaplain (Capt.) Randall Kitchens, right, lead a memorial ceremony Sunday at a park in Sheffield where a B-17 crashed in 1944, killing the crew. Eyewitnesses said the aircraft attempted to land in the park, but diverted when the crew noticed children playing.

SHEFFIELD, England — The soccer game was a grudge match between students from two elementary schools that, Tony Foulds said, "didn't like each other."

So the matter would be settled with a game at Endcliffe Park. The day was Feb. 22, 1944.

The match was under way when a B-17 Flying Fortress — the Mi Amigo — drifted in over the rooftops of buildings surrounding the park, headed directly for the boys playing soccer. It was badly off course and evidently badly damaged.

"We saw the pilots waving. They were that close," Foulds recalled. "We thought they were waving ‘hi.’ "

Foulds, 64, now knows what he didn’t understand when he was 7. The crew of the Mi Amigo was not waving a greeting. They were imploring the youngsters to scatter so the pilot, 1st Lt. John G. Krieghauser, could crash-land his wounded bird in the park.

But the boys didn’t scatter and the B-17 was unable to climb above the nearby hillside. It plowed into the tree-covered slope and burst into flames. All 10 crewmembers were killed.

"There was a terrific noise," Foulds said. "A terrific noise."

Foulds then stopped speaking Sunday, overcome by the events of that day so long ago.

The crew of the Mi Amigo was remembered Sunday as it is every year with a ceremony held at the monument placed at the spot where the nose of the Mi Amigo smashed into the earth. Sponsored by the Royal Air Force Association of Sheffield, the ceremony attracted nearly 1,000 people, including more than 100 American military members who took part in the short, solemn service.

"We remember today the crew of the Mi Amigo and many crews like them who have placed their selfless sacrifice onto the altar of freedom," said U.S. Air Force Chaplain (Capt.) Randall Kitchens in his remarks.

Prayers were said. Wreaths were laid until they lay one atop another at the simple stone marked with a small plaque. A 21-gun salute and Taps concluded the ceremony.

One of those firing the salute was Senior Airman Matthew Jackson of the honor guard from RAF Lakenheath. This was the third Mi Amigo memorial ceremony he has attended.

"It gets better every year," he said. "I’m honored that they give us a chance to come here and participate."

People come for their own reasons. Peter F. Cottam, a British architect, is an aviation enthusiast. He noted the strange coincidence that the serial number on his architectural degree was the same as the serial number of the Mi Amigo.

To honor the crew, he painted a picture of the aircraft and created a framed display with the names of crewmembers and replicas of their uniform wings and ribbons.

"It’s a way of saying ‘Thank you’," said Cottam, who said he owes his comfortable life and career to men like the 10 who died on the Sheffield hillside.

Charles Doncaster, a member of the RAF Association, said the ceremony "is done as a mark of appreciation for the lads who lost their lives defending England and the continent."

The location of the monument is a difficult place to hold a ceremony. The path to the marker is narrow and the hillside is steep and can be slick when it is muddy. There is little room for a large crowd. But people gathered Sunday in the trees above the marker and across the stream that flows below the site.

And not far away from the ceremony, the park was active with youngsters playing soccer, just as Foulds and his classmates were doing 57 years ago.

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