WORK has been undertaken to rejuvenate part of Stourport’s Burlish Top Nature Reserve to re-tell the fascinating story of a Second World War US Army camp.
Wyre Forest Rangers countryside volunteers swapped their usual conservation tasks for a bit of history detective work at Camp Bewdley, which was used as a base for American troops during the conflict.
Working alongside local historian Geoff Shaw, volunteers spent three hours scraping back years of overgrowth to uncover one of the original concrete hut bases that once housed 60 troops on double bunks in the run-up to D-Day.
After D-Day, the camp was converted into a hospital for injured servicemen returning from the front line, with 30 beds per hut for those receiving treatment.
Each hut base had its own stove, indoor toilet and central heating.
The team then moved on to the old kitchen area, where trimming back branches and brambles revealed the bases of ovens, a couple of brick buildings, and a mysterious circular brick object.
In 1943, American soldiers began to arrive in Britain in large numbers and were transported from Glasgow or Liverpool to tented or hutted camps, such as Camp Bewdley.
The camp remained a hospital facility until June 1945, one month after victory was declared in Europe.
Camp Bewdley was kept open until 1950, when local families, many of Polish ex-servicemen, took over the site.
The site was run as a housing estate by Stourport Town Council until sufficient post-war new housing was available.
