Many of you may have seen the American Flag flying outside the White Horse Inn on September 11^th and are left wondering why this was done. There was a plaque mounted to the right of the main entrance to the White Horse Inn giving an explanation but in case you did not see it this is the story behind the flag being there on that day.

The time is 1959

Black Horse Lane in 1959 was a lot different to what it is today. On the corner of Taylors Lane and Black Horse Lane there still stands a house known as "Topleys". Going along Black Horse Lane on that side was the garden of Topleys before you got to "Castle Villa", my Mums home. There are now two houses in what was Topleys garden. Beyond Castle Villa there was nothing other than a high boarded fence all the way to the corner and from there a wall ran to what is now the garage to number 2, the one time slaughter house of Hepher Butchers, finally there was a thatched barn on the corner of Black Horse Lane and the High Street. The large area of land from Castle Villa to the old slaughter house formed the garden belonging to Mr and Mrs R Barwell and now contains ten properties.

On the side of Black Horse Lane opposite Topleys there were only three properties and these were the two cottages (now converted to one dwelling ) midway along the lane and then the red brick cottage that stands just before the entrance to the present Chantrey Close. As you turn the corner there still stands the large former home of the Barwell family, the cottages beyond and attached to it were used as part of the Barwell factory. The existing detached cottage came next and then, in what is now a blank space, a row of 8 cottages known as "Askew Row" extending away from the lane. From there the lane was just about as it is now.

My Mum had great faith in the restorative, social and supportive values in a cup of tea and so it is not surprising that when she saw her new neighbour in the garden of Topleys she invited her in for a cup. It turned out that the new neighbour was an American and this was her first time out of the USA. Her name was Wilma Molpus and her husband Lee Molpus was stationed at the Alconbury Base where he ran the NCO Club. They had two children, a son named Mark and a daughter named Lynette. Not wanting to live on the Base they had rented Topleys and Wilma had begun to wonder if being tossed into the midst of all these locals was a good idea, she had not reckoned with the power of Mums teapot.

When I had completed my National Service I came home and walked into one of these now regular tea ceremonies and thus began a friendship between the Smart and Molpus families that has lasted to this day.

Lee was the spitting image of Bob Hope and walked the same, he was a good and generous neighbour with a dry sense of humour and a love for the game of golf, he used to play with the local grocer Ed Alsopp and came home one day thrilled to bits as he had become the first American to "Hole in one" on the St. Ives course, Lynette went to the local school while Mark went to a school on the Base spending a lot of his leisure time with a local farmer by the name of Bob Mitham. It was with sadness that their tour of duty came to an end in 1964 and they prepared to return to the USA. As their rental of Topleys did not coincide exactly with their return they moved into the White Horse for the last few days and so the connection with that building.

Lee had hoped to get a posting that had plenty of golf courses in the vicinity but in fact got posted to Montana with a terrain that he described as like the surface of the moon. When he left the military after 31 years, where he had always been involved in the food support end of the service, he got into a company that made use of what he knew best and became manager at a number of hotels. One of those hotels was the William Bony Hotel in Charleston West Virginia. This is the State Capitol and so it was not surprising that a lot of politicians stayed at the hotel and that Lee got to know some of them, especially if they played golf! Lee had always been proud of his country, the air force and the nations flag and I can well understand his pride when a senator who came to the hotel on a regular basis presented Lee with a "Stars and Stripes" that had once flown over the nations Capitol Building in Washington DC.

You all know about September 11^th 2001 and the terrible atrocity in New York and Washington, not forgetting those brave souls that, it would seem, managed to crash their plane in open countryside. A day that will forever remind us that such acts of violence will produce only more violence.

On 11^th September 2002 I had the thought of flying the American flag at the Memorial Hall but did not have such a flag so went to an American family who lived in Taylors Lane. They were on the point of returning to the USA but allowed me to use their flag. The flag was flown with a plaque saying simply "We will remember them" Some unknown others put flowers at the flag staff and I understand that there was just one complaint. In a village of this size I did not see that as a great measure of dissent. The flag was returned to the American family and they, and it, returned to the USA.

Lee Molpus has since died but I have kept up the contact with his widow and so when I wrote to Wilma I told her about 11/09/02. A few days later I received a parcel containing "Lee's Flag". She explained that it was 20 years old and had been repaired but that in a way made it all the more special, that it meant a lot to Lee, that he never forgot his time spent in Swavesey and that he would have been proud to have it flown here.

This was the background to my applying to the Swavesey Parish Council for official permission to fly Lee's Flag each 11^th September at the Hall as a memorial to those of all nationalities that died on that day and to the debt that this nation owes to the American nation. It is a fact of history that had they not come to our aid in the last century the freedom that the present generation seem to take for granted would not be there to enjoy. If you do not agree then I respect your right to have an alternative view but I would urge you to go to the American Cemetery at Madingley, stay a while and ponder on the sacrifice that was made by the USA in the cause of freedom.

The Parish Council declined to give permission but said that they would agree to the Union Flag being flown at half mast on that day. I had no option but to accept their ruling. I decided to seek other ways of making use of Wilma's generous gift and so went to the American Cemetery and arranged for Lees Flag to be flown long enough for a photo to be taken to send to her. I was then gratified to find that there was after all others that shared my feelings of gratitude to America and in no time this simple act had been transformed into what actually took place on 09/11/03.

At 0815 hours on that morning the Standard, President, Chairman, Secretary and 15 members and guests of the Swavesey Branch of the Royal British Legion formed up outside the visitor centre at the Madingley Cemetery. Lee's Flag and the Official Flag of the day were carried from the visitor centre to the base of the flag staff followed by the parade. Lee's Flag was run up the staff and then lowered to half mast where it remained for 20 seconds (9+11), the Legion Standard was dipped for this period. The flag was then taken from the mast and the Official Flag run up and then down to hah⁰ mast where it remained for the day. The Branch Secretary read a short address followed by the Cemetery Superintendent who read a Presidential Proclamation stating that from that day September 11^th will be "Patriots Day" While all this was going on one Branch member who was in hospital, Joseph Aguirre, himself an American, lay in his bed draped in his own Stars and Stripes while his wife Barbara stood in for him on the parade.

That would have been the end of it save for the fact that the Landlord of the White Horse Inn, Warren Wright, himself a member of the Swavesey Parish Council had seen my letter to the Council and had voted for Lee's Flag to be flown as requested by me. He said that he would be delighted to have it flown at the White Horse especially as Lee and his family had spent their last days in England at the Inn

In place of the original simple photo of Lee's Flag flying at Madingley, due to the generosity of Philip and Mavis Symonds at MPS Video Productions, Wilma will now be getting a full video coverage of American airplanes at Duxford, introductions to those on parade, the Madingley ceremony itself, internal and external views of the Cemetery, Chapel and Visitor Centre at Madingley, parade members signing the visitors book, the raising of the Lee's flag at the White Horse Inn, a "tour" of Topleys, by kind permission of Scan and Lisa Harford who now own the property, and finally views of the village that would be familiar to her.

It may well be that Wilma Molpus, her daughter and grand daughter will visit Swavesey in 2004, 40 years after Lee and his family left the village.

My thanks to all that helped on the day, it is however no surprise that so many of my fellow members of the Royal British Legion helped in this way and at short notice, they are after all members of a caring, thank full and remembering organisation.

If you would like to be a member of that organisation and in particular the Swavesey and District Branch please be advised that it is open to all, Men, Women, Those with and Those without a service record. The only qualification is support for the Legion and its work in Remembrance of sacrifices made and Care for the ex service community.

Contacts are; Clive on 232428, Bob on 205040 or Bill on 203446