This weekend will see two plaques unveiled on Burnham’s seafront to mark 75 years since America gave Britain 50 destroyers to fight Hitler’s German navy. All 50 were renamed to link towns in the USA with towns in England.

One of the destroyers, the so-called ‘Gift Horses’, was named HMS Burnham, and the ship marked the start of a remarkable relationship between Burnham, Illinois, in the United States, and the seaside town in Somerset. It’s a relationship that has been nurtured and encouraged ever since by 94-year-old Burnham resident Neville Jones OBE. The former council chief, mayor, journalist and member of the Royal Navy said it was time to remind the people of the town of the unofficial twinning brought about by the war.

In an exclusive interview with the Weekly News Mr Jones took up the story. He said: “The ships like HMS Burnham were a saviour for the nation. Churchill went over to see Roosevelt and begged him for 50 old destroyers, the gift horses. But they weren’t completely a gift as Roosevelt wanted something in exchange. We had naval bases in the Caribbean and Nova Scotia which he wanted to use as a trade-off.”

“The idea from Churchill was to rename the ships with British town names which were shared by towns in America, which was very clever. One was Burnham, and of all the places chosen Burnham was the only place you can plot a course from here all the way to America without touching land.”

He said the ship survived the war and was decommissioned in 1944 in Liverpool and on Trafalgar Day, October 21, the people of Burnham-on-Sea clubbed together to host a visit to the town by the sailors who no longer had a ship.

“About 70 crew came down by train with ten officers,” he said, “and they were given a tremendous meat tea at the Queen’s Hotel. Then in 1980 Sir Admiral Sir Mark Pizey who lived in West Hunstspill, organised for the surviving crew of the ship to come over for a visit. Well it was so successful it continued every year for 20 years.”

The plaques marking the historic link between the two Burnhams will be unveiled on Saturday, September 26, at 1pm on the Esplanade. Captain Michael Garrick of the USA Navy will attend the ceremony, and it will be followed by a reception at the Princess Theatre.