Camp Griffiss was a US military base in theUnited Kingdom during and afterWorld War II. Constructed within the grounds ofBushy Park inMiddlesex (now in theLondon Borough of Richmond upon Thames),England, it served as the European Headquarters for theUnited States Army Air Forces from July 1942 to December 1944. From hereDwight D. Eisenhower planned theD-Day invasion. Most of the camp's huts had been removed by the early 1960s, and a memorial tablet now stands on the site.
Camp Griffiss was at aTeddington end ofBushy Park, east of the axial road.
From 1942, Camp Griffiss in Bushy Park became the site of a large US base, headquarters to a number of the Allied departments. The camp served as the European Headquarters for theUSAAF from July 1942 to December 1944. General Dwight Eisenhower was averse to working in the centre of London during World War II. He decided instead to make Bushy Park theSupreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) centre for planningOperation Overlord, the code name for theAllied invasion of north-west Europe that began with theD-Day landings.[1][2]
The base was named after Lieutenant ColonelTownsend Griffiss. Griffiss had been aide to Major General James E. Chaney, and was killed in a friendly fire incident when the aircraft in which he was a passenger was mistakenly shot down byRoyal Air Force (RAF) Polish fliers. He was the first US airman to die in the line of duty in Europe since the US entered World War II.[3][4]
It was a common belief amongst those stationed at the camp that the US base was originally intended to be atBushey in Hertfordshire and was built in Bushy Park due to an error.
When the Forces left, for several years after, homeless families, referred to assquatters, moved into the empty huts, making use of the vacant facilities, toilet blocks, water stand pipes etc.
Most of the camp's huts were removed by 1963. Near the Teddington end of the park, not far from Chestnut Avenue, are two memorials:A circular USAAF Memorial tablet on a raised pentagonal block within a five-pointed brick star within a small five-sided enclosure.
The former site of Eisenhower's office is laid out in brick, with a memorial to SHAEF and a flagpole.
Some American Forces had also been billeted at Upper Lodge in Bushy Park. When they departed they left a concrete obelisk with this inscription: 5 C D, TEXAS, 1942.[5]
51°25′10″N0°19′45″W / 51.4194°N 0.3291°W /51.4194; -0.3291
