A common theme here at #ScaiaBlog is the Germans are excellent at starting wars. In fact, modern philosopher Norm MacDonald encapsulated the Germans’ work during his last appearance on Letterman back in 2015.

Thursday marks the 80th anniversary of VE Day. While the UK celebrates, volunteers in Terrell have sent them a tribute to honor British pilots who died in training here.

At a time we all seem so divided, Terrell [and Norm MacDonald] are showing the Germans can still bring us together.

Volunteers made rubbings of the tombstones of 20 British Royal Air Force pilots who died during training in Terrell from 1941 to 1945. Some died in crashes or accidents; a couple others died from illness.

That part of the cemetery is considered British territory, and British service members are frequent visitors. A woman who was making tracings hosts those service members for reunions. She says they’re enamored of Texas accents, Terrell residents are enamored of British accents, and folks from the UK often want to learn more about that dastardly J.R. Ewing.

Terrell is growing quickly as the Metroplex expands, but the city was less connected to DFW and had more open space during World War II, so Texas longhorns would stand in for the Germans during training runs.

Terrell has a museum dedicated to the training school. The executive director says he was glad to see kids showing up to get service hours by making rubbings. He says projects like this can show them their community has a close connection to world history.

And one of the volunteers says she was glad to see, even with kids’ focus on technology, their tracing skills have not been lost.

The Commemorative Air Force is making rubbings of all 423 British service members who died across the United States. They’re delivering a tracing to the family of each person and the British government.

The leader of the Commemorative Air Force’s Coyote Squadron says he can remember the smell of World War II wafting up from his grandfather’s foot locker, which I can’t imagine smelled great.

The Commemorative Air Force is flying the tracings to the UK in the last operational 1944 Douglas R4D-6S.

British pilots got to learn about Texas culture when they trained here. We can learn about British culture, too. Buckingham Palace is marking the anniversary with, I swear, a tea party.