28 Apr Glenn Miller and the Bedford Corn Exchange

Major Glenn Miller, US Army Air Corps

“Corn Exchange??”  It’s a British term that describes the buildings where farmers traded their grains. What I read in Wikipedia is that the name “corn” referred to all cereal grains. This type of trade was common up until the 19th century.

The Bedford Corn Exchange was constructed in 1874 and was designed to be a concert venue. Bedford was the nearest large town to many airfields in the Bedfordshire area : Thurleigh, Twinwoods, Harrington, Molesworth, Chelveston, Podington, Kimbolton, Glatton, Madingley, Steeple Morden, Nuthampstead,  and Bassingbourn.

The actual building is very much in use today, hosting variety of live entertainment events, many hundreds each year.

In the beginning of World War II the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the principal orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation, moved first to Bristol, then when that locale was bombed the orchestra moved to Bedford.  The orchestra practiced and performed all over town with many live broadcasts originating from the Bedford Corn Exchange.  According to their website, during the war there was increased interest in American music. Of course! The Yanks were everywhere!

The most famous American musician to play at The Corn Exchange during the war was Glenn Miller, but he wasn’t the only celebrity to perform there. Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore and many others entertained the locals and the armed forced stationed nearby.

Plaque outside the Bedford Corn Exchange

Captain Glenn Miller already had a famous band when he joined the Army in October of 1942. Right after D-Day Captain Miller arrived in England with his Army Air Forces Band. They were originally housed in London but soon figured out they needed to find a safer home. Since the BBC Orchestra was already broadcasting from Bedford, in July of 1944 Miller and his band moved there too.  On July 9th he gave his first broadcast in the UK from the Bedford Corn Exchange.  Here’s a good BBC interview in September.

The band was officially based for administration purposes from Milton Ernest Hall, the Eighth Air Force Service Command Headquarters. Milton Ernest is about five miles north of Bedford.  Glenn Miller and his manager, Don Haynes, often stayed there and dined in the Officers’ Mess.  On the afternoon of July 16, 1944, Miller gave a concert on the grounds of the hall. There were 1600 officers and men present.

The band’s first performance, though, was at Thurleigh, home of the 306th BG, on July 14, 1944. A makeshift stage was built inside one of the hangars. 3500 People were sitting on the floor, perched on the wings of the planes, and literally hanging from the rafters.  It was almost too crowded to dance. It was fabulous.

The Glenn Miller band practiced in various venues and over the next few months they played at airfields all over the area. I’ve read that the band members slept at the American Red Cross Enlisted Men’s Club in Bedford. When I visited Thurleigh last year my son and I stayed at the Queen’s Head Hotel  in Milton Ernest, whose pub was frequented by Miller.  The owners pointed out the window toward where Milton Ernest Hall Care Home is today, a private nursing home, and mentioned that it was where Glenn Miller spent his last night.

On December 15, 1944 Glenn Miller took off in a small plane out of nearby Twinwood Farm, an RAF airfield. His destination was Paris but his plane was lost en route, the mystery never solved.

Incidentally, my father-in-law John DiGeorge, Sr. with the U.S. Army’s 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron was waiting at the Paris hotel ballroom where Miller’s band was scheduled to play.  All they knew, of course, was that he had been delayed … and delayed … and delayed.

(Today there is a Glenn Miller Museum at the Twinwood Airfield Control Tower.)

Nothing else can bring back the mood and memories of 1944 Bedford and the Corn Exchange better than a little Moonlight Serenade.

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