Each year on Memorial Day a service coordinated by the Arcadia Rotary Club and the local American Legion is held to honor 23 RAF trainee pilots and their American instructor who were killed training at nearby Carlstrom and Riddle flight schools during WWII.
Well over one hundred people, many of whom bring floral tributes, congregate at the beautifully maintained British Plot in the Oak Ridge Cemetery.
The one hour service, starting at 10:00 a.m., at which the Sarasota British Club is always represented, is dignified and moving. The Union Jack and RAF flags fluttering overhead add a further touch of Britain to the proceedings.
DIRECTIONS:
Go east on SR 70 (from Bradenton) or SR 72 (from Sarasota) for about 35 miles.
Follow signs to Arcadia.
As you enter the town on SR 70 the road forks…take the left fork (Oak Street) to Lee and turn left (there’s a bit of a right-left jog in the road at Whidden Street) till the road stops.
Turn left and follow that road into Oak Ridge Cemetery.
Drive straight on and look for the Union Jack flying over the plot.