An historical pact in which the south of St David’s Island was sacrificed for the rest of Bermuda’s benefit is to be commemorated this month at the East End.

A memorial overlooking Annie’s Bay will stand as tribute to a lost way of life destroyed more than 80 years ago.

The bronze plaque was commissioned by the St David’s Island Historical Society as a testament to the land and culture largely erased when islands and shoreline abruptly gave way to a US air base early in the Second World War.

The 1940 deal between Britain and the United States signalled a turning point in the war and a milestone for modernising Bermuda as it enabled tourism to take off after the war.

But the reshaping of St David’s, which created 750 acres of new land for the base by 1941, came at a bitter cost for islanders.

“It cut St David’s in half and took away some of the more vital sea coast,” society president Rick Spurling told The Royal Gazette.

“With that, it took away their livelihoods and destroyed much of the culture of St David’s islanders.

“Not that the culture didn’t continue in one form or another on the north side of the island, but this was really the death knell.

“Now, as generations die out, there are very few real St David’s islanders that embrace that culture.”

The 99-year lease with the US came as Bermuda’s giant neighbour remained neutral in the war.

Britain was struggling against Nazi Germany, while US president Franklin Roosevelt recognised the risk of Bermuda, a few hours’ flight from American shores, falling to enemy forces.

Instead of placing the US base and airfield on the mainland of Bermuda, US forces opted to “reclaim” land using material dredged from the bottom of Castle Harbour.

Swathes of St David’s Island were destroyed in the process, along with areas such as Long Bird Island.

Mr Spurling said that Annie’s Bay was chosen for the bronze memorial as “the only bay that remains from the old south side prior to 1941”.

“The base destroyed every other bay and beach — this is the only one that remains.”

Mr Spurling added that the site lay close to the site of the home of the fisherman and whaler Tommy Fox, known as “the uncrowned king of St David’s” — and the only Bermudian to get a road named after him on the US base.

The other roads on the new American soil were named after US generals and battles.

“The naming gives an indication of the respect the base personnel had for Tommy Fox,” Mr Spurling said. “When he gave up his land and then saw what was happening to his beloved St David’s, he died within a year from what I’m sure was a broken heart.”

Mr Spurling said it was likely that the original plan to site the base on top of Bermuda’s central parishes — or in the Great Sound — got dropped because “the powers that were in Bermuda didn’t want it close to their houses”.

“It was easy for them to push it down on St David’s because the islanders were not educated or powerful.”

He described the old culture of St David’s as one of “giving and helping — without money, because they didn’t have any”.

“Part of what it says on the plaque is that the islanders were not rich — except in life.”

The base brought the new airstrip of Kindley Field, providing the island with an airport that transformed Bermuda’s economy, while the arrival of thousands of US base workers delivered untold work opportunities for Bermudians.

Mr Spurling said that very few people remained alive who recalled the upheaval of the East End.

“There are some who are old enough to remember, but many were little children when their families were dispossessed.”

The expropriation of land in St David’s was backed by Parliament but investigated nonetheless by the Commission of Inquiry into Historic Land Losses in 2020 and 2021.

Among the commission’s recommendations was for monuments and educational programmes to memorialise the taking of land at St David’s.

The historical society’s museum at Carter House comes with maps and records showing the properties that were taken and the people who owned them.

Mr Spurling said that news of the memorial has been well received by the community.

“The response has been very positive — people are overjoyed.”

Island Construction donated the boulder of Bermuda stone where the plaque is to be mounted in place, and Mr Spurling also thanked Bermuda Brickyard Limited for helping to find an overseas supplier for the bronze memorial — and helping to fix the plaque in place.

“The only thing the society has had to pay for has been the $1,800 for the plaque itself,” Mr Spurling said.

A ceremony is planned for Tuesday, with the plaque to be unveiled from a cloth bearing the gold and blue colours of St David’s.

Mr Spurling said that the 6.30pm gathering would be attended by a number of older islanders, with a talk delivered on how the memorial was created.

He added that the Bermuda Land Development Company was amenable to eventually creating a park at the memorial site.

Created in 1996, the BLDC led the redevelopment of the former base at St David’s, which was vacated by the US in 1995 with the demise of the Cold War.

The base land, which covers 425 acres, was given the new name Southside by the BLDC in 1997 in recognition of its links to the old St David’s Island.