Norfolk is proud to boast that some of it’s men folk played a significant part in the building of the United States of America. Perhaps the best known was the Squire of Heacham, John Rolfe (1585-1622) who in 1610 reached Virginia and is reputed to have been the first Colonist to begin cultivation of the tobacco plant. In 1614 he married the Princess Pocahontas the younger daughter of the American Indian Chief Powhatan. Heacham is a village just three miles down the road from Hunstanton. Also born in Norfolk, in Thetford, was Tom Paine (1737-1809), who played an important part in the American Revolution. Paine sailed to Philadelphia in 1774 where he wrote a series of pamphlets in which he asserted that the American colonies received no advantage from their mother country which, he claimed, was intent on exploiting them and that every consideration of common sense called for the colonies to become independent of Great Britain and to establish a republican government of their own.

Perhaps the most important connection however, certainly in modern history, is the role played by the United States Eighth Army Air Force after its arrival in East Anglia in 1942. In Norfolk alone they operated from 14 bases, more than any other county in England, and today as you drive around the county you can still see signs of the hastily laid concrete which served as the landing strips for the B24’s. There are museums at Norwich and Watton and at Seething Airfield there is an exhibition dedicated to the 448th Bomb Group, US 8th Army Air Force, which operated out of that airfield.

One of the most poignant reminders of the sacrifice made by US Citizens during the war years is served by a visit to the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial in Madingley Cambridge, about an hours drive from Hunstanton. Amongst those buried here are 3812 crew members of aircraft based in Britain in World War 2 and inscribed on The Wall of the Missing, 472 feet in length and made of Portland Stone are the details of 5125 members of the US Armed Forces missing in action, lost or whose remains could not be positively identified. In these friendlier more peaceful times many fond memories are recalled by Norfolk people of the time when the ‘Yanks’ were over here and of the long term lasting relationships which were formed back in the dark days of the Second World War and which have lasted to this day.

In the space of a decade Hunstanton had seen another 'friendly invasion' by Americans this time servicemen and women with their families who had returned to meet the challenge of the Cold War. They had set up home around the Sculthorpe air base and many areas had small communities of Americans. Hunstanton was no exception. On 1st February 1953 the sea burst into Hunstanton and many people lost their lives. Most of course were local folk but amongst them were 16 Americans and a memorial to their memory, along with others lost in the tragedy, is in the esplanade gardens. The United States Air Force drafted in men and huge machines that evening to help in the emergency and two US Serviceman, Freeman A Kilpatrick and Reis Leeming were awarded the George Medal in recognition of their bravery.