A WOODEN block of stables in Aldbourne that once housed American Second World War heroes is to be dismantled piece by piece and transported across the Atlantic to the USA.

Like a giant jigsaw, the stable block will then be rebuilt at a military museum in Taccoa, Georgia, where the Easy Company, part of the USA 506 Parachute Regiment, is based.

Paratroops from the Easy Company, who were immortalised in the blockbuster TV series Band of Brothers, were housed in the stable block as they gathered in Wiltshire in preparation for the D-Day landings of June 1944.

Now partly-derelict, the stable block is tucked away behind the Blue Boar pub in the garden of the home of Mike Stedman. He wanted the block dismantled but asked if anyone wanted it before proceeding with the work.

Chris Anderson, editor of the US military magazine World War Two, is masterminding the project. He said: "For many these stables were the last place that these guys could really call home.

"The idea is to bring the stables to the US as a kind of thank you to the veterans who made such big sacrifices."

Aldbourne craftsmen Sowerby and Son will start dismantling the 80-year-old stables in April. Owner Keith Sowerby said: "It will be a big job for us compared with what we normally do which is making furniture."

The stables will probably be gone by May when some of the few surviving US Army veterans make a return visit to Aldbourne. They have been invited by former Marlborough brothers Clive Stevens, who now lives in Suffolk, and Neil, who lives in Newark.

The Stevens brothers are keen military historians and have organised a number of reunions in Aldbourne and Ramsbury by US veterans.

Clive Stevens said of the stables project: "It's a shame they will be leaving Aldbourne. However by taking them to America their future is assured. It will be a huge operation to dismantle them and then re-erect them at Taccoa but it's nice to know they will be going somewhere appropriate.

"The Yanks will look after them and treasure them."