Most of you have been following my website and the project for years, and for that I’m so incredibly grateful. I still have a ways to go and will not give up just yet on getting the memorial plaque in the water at the wreck site. Over the past 24 years I’ve come into contact with many people; professionals, family members, historians and so much more. My husband and I have traveled all over the eastern part of the country to reunions honoring the men from the DD467/758, and that included ships that were part of the action in the South Pacific and beyond. But until very recently, I had not ever set foot in a place touched by the horrors of the war. I had that opportunity on June 2nd.
My cousin and I are fans of a wonderful British author. When she found out there would be a fan convention and wanted to go, she invited me to come along. On Wednesday May 31st I met her at Dulles International Airport and we flew together from there to London, then caught a coach bus to Coventry, England – the site of the Blitz by the German Luftwaffe in mid-November 1940. On Friday another lady I met at the convention and I decided to go into town and have lunch and visit the cathedral. At the time I did not realize or recall the part Coventry played in the war. I learned a lot very quickly.
There are three churches clustered together amidst a few historic buildings that lived through the bombing and the new construction that occurred after the war. Holy Trinity Church and cemetery are in front of St. Michael’s, and a newly built cathedral from 1962 sits behind the group. One stands out in particular, the cathedral of St. Michaels, built during the late 14th/early 15th centuries in Coventry. German bombs reduced this beautiful and historic structure to rubble, leaving the main steeple intact and outer walls standing. A burial of the Bishop of Worcester remains. Bases of the columns that once supported the roof remain and lead a path toward the altar. At the altar is a large cross built from burnt wood timbers from the cathedral. On one side is a statue of Reconciliation between the UK and the Japanese people, erected in 1995. I stood in the middle of this devastated structure and something I could not explain came over me. Realization hit me that this was the first time I had ever set foot on ground touched by WW2. Later on I looked up photographs from the time of the bombing. The horror that the people of Coventry and Great Britain experienced can’t be truly put into words. Being there was an honor and a privilege.
The new St. Michael’s can be seen in the photographs, leaning protectively over the ruins of the old cathedral, proving that the people of Great Britain persevered and would not be beaten. Given the chance I’d like to visit more sites, especially the South Pacific. One day I hope to get that chance.
-Tammi
Click here to learn more: St. Michael’s Cathedral ruins
My cousin and I are fans of a wonderful British author. When she found out there would be a fan convention and wanted to go, she invited me to come along. On Wednesday May 31st I met her at Dulles International Airport and we flew together from there to London, then caught a coach bus to Coventry, England – the site of the Blitz by the German Luftwaffe in mid-November 1940. On Friday another lady I met at the convention and I decided to go into town and have lunch and visit the cathedral. At the time I did not realize or recall the part Coventry played in the war. I learned a lot very quickly.
There are three churches clustered together amidst a few historic buildings that lived through the bombing and the new construction that occurred after the war. Holy Trinity Church and cemetery are in front of St. Michael’s, and a newly built cathedral from 1962 sits behind the group. One stands out in particular, the cathedral of St. Michaels, built during the late 14th/early 15th centuries in Coventry. German bombs reduced this beautiful and historic structure to rubble, leaving the main steeple intact and outer walls standing. A burial of the Bishop of Worcester remains. Bases of the columns that once supported the roof remain and lead a path toward the altar. At the altar is a large cross built from burnt wood timbers from the cathedral. On one side is a statue of Reconciliation between the UK and the Japanese people, erected in 1995. I stood in the middle of this devastated structure and something I could not explain came over me. Realization hit me that this was the first time I had ever set foot on ground touched by WW2. Later on I looked up photographs from the time of the bombing. The horror that the people of Coventry and Great Britain experienced can’t be truly put into words. Being there was an honor and a privilege.
The new St. Michael’s can be seen in the photographs, leaning protectively over the ruins of the old cathedral, proving that the people of Great Britain persevered and would not be beaten. Given the chance I’d like to visit more sites, especially the South Pacific. One day I hope to get that chance.
-Tammi
Click here to learn more: St. Michael’s Cathedral ruins
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