“...that England Might Live”
A handful of American pilots flew in the British Royal Air Force in the summer of 1940.
As Nazi forces conquered Europe and threatened Great Britain, the Royal Air Force (RAF), the British Fleet Air Arm, and a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron were the first line of defense. Through the summer of 1940, the outnumbered RAF and its allies desperately fought off German air attacks.
Pilots from many nations, among them several Americans, joined the fight. US neutrality laws made it illegal for Americans to fight for other countries, and volunteers risked imprisonment and losing their citizenship. The US ultimately went to war in 1941, and Congress pardoned all those affected in 1944.
The displayed plaque honors American courage in aiding the British cause. The British and Commonwealth Remembrance Project dedicated this marker on the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 2025.
- William Fiske—Killed August 18, 1940 (Battle of Britain)
- Carl Davis—Killed September 6, 1940 (Battle of Britain)
- Philip Leckrone—Killed January 5, 1941
- Vernon Keough—Killed February 15, 1941
- Eugene Tobin—Killed September 7, 1941
- Andrew Mamedoff—Killed October 8, 1941
- Alexander Zatonski—Missing December 6, 1941
- Arthur Donahue—Killed September 11, 1942
- John Haviland—survived the war
- de Peyster Brown—survived the war
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