Bomber service sheet

The Astwell Benefice
St Mary Magdalene Helmdon with Stuchbury and St
Lawrence Radstone and St James the Great Syresham with St John the Evangelist Whitfield,
St Mary and St Peter Lois Weedon with Weston and
Plumpton and St Mary the Virgin Wappenham
Memorial Service for
The Crew of the Sharon Belle
B17 Bomber 42-30408
Call sign UXQ
USAF 327 th Bomb Squadron
70 years after the crash that took their lives at
St Mary Magdalene
Helmdon

Opening Music
Introduction to the Service
Reverend Carole Peters
Rector of the Astwell Benefice
The Posting of the Colours
Honor Guard
422 nd Air Base
RAF Croughton
The American National Anthem
Oh, say! can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming;
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:
Oh, say! does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In fully glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
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And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution!
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust":
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Invocation
Chaplain Major Jack Stanley
USAF USAFE 422 ABG/HC
Welcome to the Guests
Reverend Carole Peters
Rector of the Astwell Benefice
In Memory of
Air Base Group Commander
Colonel Charles Hamilton
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Flag Folding and
The Laying of a Wreath
The Honor Guard
422 nd Air Base
Silence is kept
“Taps”
Benediction
Reverend Carole Peters
Thank You
Chaplain Major Jack Stanley
Please stay for coffee or tea.
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