US Marines' gift returns to Londonderry

The marine's commanding officer presented a plaque to Londonderry as a token of friendship

As commemorations get under way for the 70th anniversary of the climax of the Battle of the Atlantic, a gift from the US Marine Corps has gone on public display.

May 1943 was the turning point in what is called the "longest, largest, and most complex" naval battle in history.

It lasted from 1939 until 1945.

More than 66,000 Allied merchant seamen, sailors and airmen lost their lives, with 175 warships and 5,000 merchant ships destroyed by U-boats.

Five hundred and ninety nine members of the US Marine Corp (USMC) were stationed across Londonderry, including at what is now the Beech Hill hotel.

The marines were there to guard Base One Europe, the US Navy's operating base in the Foyle valley.

On 12 May 1943, the marines held a public parade in Guildhall Square to mark the anniversary of their arrival in Derry.

The parade made the front page of the Belfast Telegraph. Crowds filled the streets around the square and on the city's walls, and the Duke of Abercorn and the mayor also attended.

The parade took place 70 years ago this month and was the result of a challenge from a local police officer.

A Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) commander had questioned a claim by the USMC officers that their marines could "do anything". The commander, who came from a piping family, challenged the marines to learn the pipes.

Two months later the US Marine Corps Pipe and Drum Band made its public debut.

At the event the marines' commanding officer presented a plaque to the city as a token of friendship.

The Londonderry Corporation promised it would give the plaque an "honoured position" in the Guildhall.

"In all probability it will be affixed to a wall in the mayor's parlour where it will always be easily accessible to distinguished visitors to the Guildhall," the Belfast Telegraph reported.

However, for reasons that remain a mystery, the plaque never made it on to the Guildhall wall.

It was found a few years ago by Martha Hopkins, whose father, Lt Col James Dugan, was the second in command of the USMC in the city.

Mrs Hopkins discovered the plaque among her father's belongings at his house in Quincy, Massachusetts.

She presented it to the Base One Europe Museum at the Beech Hill on a recent trip to Northern Ireland.

Mark Lusby, heritage officer from the Holywell Trust, said the plaque would now go on display as originally intended "in a prominent position to commemorate the US Marine Corps sojourn in Derry during WWII".

"The plaque is a tangible reminder of the US naval operating base in Derry which made an important contribution to Allied success in the Battle of the Atlantic," he said.

On Saturday the Londonderry Royal Naval Association unveiled the international sailor statue in Ebrington Square as a tribute to 100,000 mariners of all nations who lost their lives in the Battle of the Atlantic.