WAR LEADERS CHEERED

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24897, 10 June 1946, Page 5

WAR LEADERS CHEERED

Mechanised vehicles for an hour before they moved off at 9.18 a.m. were manoeuvred into their positions for the march. The war leaders met in an enclosure. The crowd cheered each well-known Allied general as he arrived. The cheering began as the first vehicle began the long circular route via Marylebone, Euston, and Pentonville roads into the East End and then via Whitehall Their Majesties and the Princesses received a tremendous ovation when they left Buckingham Palace at 10.10 am. in an open landau with a captains’ escort from the Household Cavalry flying the Royal Standard. This reception was repeated from massed subjects along the route to the saluting base. Mr Attlee and Mr Churchill were no less warmly welcomed as they drove in a royal carriage behind the royal landau, and then two more carriages followed, in the second one of which were Mr W. L. Mackenzie King (Canada). General Smuts (South Africa), Mr Walter Nt.sh (New Zealand), and Mr J. A. Beasley (Australia). Ihe King wore the service uniform ef Admiral of the Fleet. One of the day’s biggest cheers was when Queen Mary arrived at the salut-

ing base and shook hands with members of the Cabinet. The Royal Standard which the King raised on the beaches of Normandy when he visited Field-Marshal Montgomery 10 days after D Day, was hoisted in place of the Union Jack. It was slightly torn in France and to-day it was in the same condition as when it was brought back to Britain Watchers saw the greatest procession of mechanised fighting vehicles ever gathered in London, consisting of more than 500 gleaming, freshly-painted vehicles manned with spick and span personnel. More than 40 British, American, and Allied leaders, including Field-Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, Field-Marshal Montgomery, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Portal, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Tedder, and Field-Marshal Lord Alexander (who arrived from Canada last night by air). Lord Louis Mountbatten, Field-Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, and LieutenantGeneral Sir Miles Dempsey who rode at the head of the column. The biggest cheers were undoubtedly for Field-Marshal Montgomery who rode alone in a jeep, wearing his famous beret.