US commander to mark VE Day

The commemoration will take place today (Wednesday) at the Beech Hill Country House Hotel. Beech Hill was a base for the United States Marines in World War 2 and the hotel has maintained links with the Marine Corps ever since.

Lt. General Berndt spent 36 years with the Marines. He saw service in many of the world’s war zones including Vietnam and Bosnia. He will bring various articles donated by the USMC museum of the Carolinas for display in the Beech Hill’s permanent Marines exhibition.

On Wednesday details will be announced of a new computerised archive containing previously unavailable information regarding the US military in wartime Northern Ireland. The facility is expected to be of particular interest historians and scholars.

Beech Hill owner, Patsy O’Kane, said: “In spite of the obvious historical significance of the Marines’ activities in Derry during World War 2 there has been very little evidence available in Northern Ireland of the contribution the men based here made to the War and the integration of the military presence into the Derry community. More than 500 Marines were based at Beech Hill. Many of them married local girls and their descendents now come to look around the site of their father’s wartime camp.”

Mrs. O’Kane says the unique military archive would result in many more people visiting Londonderry and would greatly benefit the city’s tourism industry.