Courtesy photo Don Hemphill sits on a bridge in London during his service in Great Britain during WW II.

by Stephanie Croston

    It's been 61 years since Don Hemphill of Seward left Wormingford, England, at the end of World War II.
     Hemphill was part of the 55th Fighter Group, 38th Fighter Squad that served in the war. He returned to England in July for a memorial dedication at the old air base. The memorial was to honor members of the 442nd Air Service Group who died in 1944 and 1945.
     "For as long as I can remember, he's talked about going back," Hemphill's daughter Marilyn Hladky said.
     Hemphill joined the Air Force in 1942 and during training, he attended school at Lockheed in Burbank, Calif., specializing in the P-38, which was a bigger fighter than the P-51.
     Other classes were at the Lincoln Aeronautical Institute in Lincoln. Because there was no air base in Lincoln, the soldiers lived in the Buick Building one block north of the old YMCA. They would do calesthenics on the football field and march to the school.
     "I was amazed that we could rev those engines in downtown Lincoln," he said.
     The best part of being stationed in Nebraska?
     "I got to go home every weekend," he said with a smile.
     He was stationed in Washington state before being deployed to England. His first stop was Nuthamstead, near Cambridge, and then he went to Wormingford, which is near Colchester.
     "I was there for D-Day and V-E Day," he said.
     Three missions took off from the base on D-Day, strafing the German lines ahead of the invasion.
     "I remember the sound. The droning of the aircraft seemed like it went on all day," Hemphill said.
     Once the invasion began, the civilians who worked on the base weren't allowed to leave.
     The mechanics painted stripes on the plane wings for recognition, Hemphill said. Vintage planes at air shows today still have those stripes.
     The Wormingford base was home to the first long-range fighter group in England, Hemphill said. He was a mechanic and worked on both the P-38 Lightning and the P-51 Mustang.
     The 55th Fighter Group included 100 planes, with 25 in each squad. Mechanics were assigned to planes, and if the plane
    didn't return from a mission, they were assigned to another.
     "The first mission, we lost half," Hemphill said.
     Pilots had to complete 25 missions before they could go back to the United States, while the crews stayed behind.
     "We were stuck there to take care of the planes," he said.
     As a mechanic and crew chief, Hemphill and his crew conducted preflight inspections every morning, warming up the plane's engines and checking its fuel and oil.
     They performed routine maintenance on the fighters, changing the oil and sparkplugs and checking the brakes. Technicians were assigned to the radio equipment and armaments, while specialists worked on the propellers.
     The original P-51 had a fuel tank in the cockpit to expand its range, Hemphill said. The P-38 was a taller plane that the mechanics had to build stands to reach.
     On days off, soldiers visited London. During World War II, the city was under a blackout. Taxi cabs drove with slitted headlights, while searchlights scanned the skies along the coast. Hemphill and the Hladkys went back to London after the memorial dedication.
     "This was the first time I saw London with the lights on," Hemphill said.
     He also visited Cambridge during his first stay in England and went to Nottingham to see his mother's cousin, who happened to work at the train depot.
     When Hemphill left the Air Force in 1945, he was a staff sergeant and crew chief. He received two presidential citations and a good conduct medal.
     The 55th Fighter Group still holds reunions for the members who can attend. Quarterly newsletters help members keep in touch.
     Only five members of the 55th Fighter Group were able to attend the ceremony in England July 29 and 30. Each read 11 of the 55 names of the pilots who did not return.
     The base belongs to a farmer now and is leased by a glider club. Part of the runway is still visible, although most of the buildings were removed in 1966.
     "The mess hall is still there, but it's in a different spot," Hemphill said.
     Hladky and her husband, Ed, traveled with Hemphill to the ceremony.
     "After the dedication, a lot of the locals came and shook Dad's hand and thanked him," Hladky said. "One said they had a great fondness for the Americans."