1940s Video: American Sailors in Bermuda
As Bermuda celebrates Remembrance Day today [Nov 11] the vintage newsreel below shows American sailors on the island at a time when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called us a “vital pillar in the bridge” connecting Britain and the US during the 1939-45 Second World War.
During World War Two the island was considered an important military base because of its strategic location in the Atlantic Ocean.
Aside from the Allied forces who were stationed here on a full-time basis, US, British, Caribbean and Canadian forces all passed through Bermuda at various time en route to various international theatres of operations.
A 1941 treaty between the US and UK formalised an unofficial undertaking between the two countries permitting America to build military bases here during World War Two.
This was an adjunct to the September 2, 1940 Destroyers-For-Bases deal when US Secretary of State agreed to transfer 50 US warships to the Royal Navy in exchange for the US being granted land in British possessions for the establishment of naval or air bases on 99-year rent-free leases.
Originally Bermuda was not included in the deal — which involved the establishment bases in the Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Antigua, Trinidad and British Guiana (now Guyana). But the US War Department belatedly pressed Hull to extend the agreement to include Bermuda and Newfoundland.
“I have today signed a document implementing the agreement of September last for the leasing of United States bases in Bermuda and elsewhere and I wish to express to you my strong conviction that these bases are important pillars of the bridge connecting the two great English-speaking democracies,” said Churchill in a message to the Bermuda Parliament on March 27, 1941. “You have cause to be proud it has fallen to your lot to make this important contribution to a better world.”
Churchill later visited the island in January, 1942 en route to the UK following a wartime Washington meeting with US President Franklin Roosevelt. He spent the four-hour flight from Virginia to Bermuda in the captain’s seat aboard the 40-ton BOAC flying-boat “Berwick” and piloted the aircraft for part of the journey. While here, Churchill addressed the House of Assembly to personally thank Bermudians for the sacrifice of land in St. David’s and Southampton where US bases were built.
And this footage was taken of the American Destroyer Escort USS “Frament” during its shakedown cruise to Bermuda in 1943. The film shows the “Frament’s” sailors not only familiarising themselves with the newly-launched ship’s systems but swimming in the island’s waters and taking carriage rides around Bermuda.
In a tragic irony, just a year later, in November, 1944, the “Frament” accidentally rammed and sank the Italian submarine “Luigi Settembrini” which it was escorting to Bermuda where the Italians were to provide aid in anti-submarine warfare training. Of the 42-strong crew of the “Settembrini”, only 14 survivors were rescued by Frament.
“Our history is replete with examples of individual Bermudians who have worked and sacrificed for the good of the community but none is more patriotic than the support given by the people of Bermuda for the building of the two US bases on the island in 1940,” Bermuda Martime Museum director Dr. Edward Harris has said.
“The bases were built at a time when the storm clouds of war overshadowed Europe. Bermuda accepted the fact that they were needed and co-operated with both the UK and the US to complete the task. In the island’s recent history, there has been no other single event that has contributed more to the development of the island. “
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Thanks for the above Pat and Bernews. Brought back a lot of memories especially the video. The buildings have changed, vanished but that is still Barrs Bay where the old Shore Patrol Headquatered.
A peacefull and remembered day too all.