WW2 USAAF artwork revealed at Norwich’s American Library

The sculpture of wreckage from a Liberator bomber was created for the American Library, at the Millennium Library in the Forum, by Marek Jeczalik.

Now the Norwich University of the Arts fine art graduate has seen his Forever Young artwork hung in the library, which acts as a memorial to the Second Air Division of the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Force.

Marek Jeczalik’s sculpture Forever Young has been hung in the American Library (Image: Newsquest)

READ MORE: Exhibition featuring the ‘more unusual aspects of Norfolk’ set to start

The library is a memorial to the nearly 7,000 US personnel from the Second Air Division who were based in East Anglia during the Second World War and were killed in action, as well as those who survived.

The memorial is the portion of the aircraft commonly decorated alongside the aircraft’s name, with Marek explaining: “Often the name of the bomber and the image stemmed from a girlfriend of one of the crew members.

The American Library commemorates the USAAF Second Air Division (Image: Newsquest)

READ MORE: ‘Absolutely astounded’ woman’s anger over derelict building’s NON-STOP alarm

“I can see this now animated girlfriend changed from her mascot role to one of painful sorrow for her betrothed.

“She now resides on a folded dull scrap of aluminium, that was once a proud shiny Liberator.

Marek Jeczalik is a Norwich University of the Arts graduate (Image: Submitted)

READ MORE: Care home’s plea for cards to make 100th birthday ‘monumental’

“The girl represents the spirit of the aircraft, which transported these valiant men, mourning the loss of her crew – her tears streaming down the side of this metallic fragment.” 

The Second Air Division headquarters were at Ketteringham Hall but the command was originally at Old Catton, then Horsham St Faith, until late in 1943.

Cllr Margaret Dewsbury, cabinet member for communities and partnerships at Norfolk County Council (Image: Archant)

Margaret Dewsbury, cabinet member for communities and partnerships at Norfolk County Council, said: “The American Library is a living memorial to the nearly 7,000 American personnel from the Second Air Division who were based in East Anglia and Forever Young is a very poignant addition to our exhibition.”

The American Library is marking its 60th year with several events. See americanlibrary.uk for further details.

The Forever Young sculpture has been hung in the American Library (Image: Newsquest)