London Anzac Day Celebrations

Press, Volume C, Issue 29505, 5 May 1961, Page 17

London Anzac Day Celebrations

IFrnm th* London CorrutxnMenl of “Th* Pr*M”l

LONDON. April 25 was Geranium Day in London, assigned to the collection of funds for the .blind in return for which the street collectors issued paper geranium flowers. The appearance of" these fair for poppies in many lapels at the Anzac Day ceremony in Whitehall 'made the occasion even more Istrongly reminiscent of the I ceremonies being held | throughout New Zealand and i Australia. Except for the Royal Marine band it was wholly a Corrimonwealth and Dominion Day. Even in the midst of London's traffic din, only a little removed by police diversions, the wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph evoked the same full emotions that are roused among Anzacs at home. London roared on, generally unaware of what was happening and unconcerned except for the minor dislocation of the traffic flow. Tourist and resident Anzacs were there, the visitors still conspicuously tanned from the southern summer. There were many faces of unmistakable 1914-18 veterans in the crowd of about 1500. The youthful Australian cricket tourists were there, too. An elderly woman nervously polished the lens of her camera with her Unger. Whitehall civil servants came to the windows

. and balconies to watch the i ceremony. The two High Cotmnisstoners laid wreaths on behalf of their Governments i and people. Armed services I and Commonwealth representatives followed and Lord , Freyberg laid a wreath for ; the New Zealand Returned . Services’ Association. I While the newspaper • placards only yards away • announced further news of I the Algerian military insuiI rection. a French Army commandant stepped forward to I lay a ribboned wreath of ' lilac and roses. simply • marked ‘'from the French t Government.” Another came ' from the French Gallipoli > veterans. the Association ! d'Anciens Combatants des i Dardanelles. The Cenotaph was already ; decked with wreaths honouring St. George's Day. To . them were added garlands > of -poppies made by the I British Legion for Govern- . ments and regiments, for the Army Council and the t British Army. • Then came those private • tributes and remembrances, i so obviously gathered from a home garden and bearing ’ shatteringly simple and ; eloquent messages. And so to the grandeur of i Westminster Abbey. The , congregation filled the Abbey and waited a long time in i silence before the hour of i the commemorative service. ■ About 100 had to stand. It I was the largest attendance t at a London Anzac Service

held on a week day. A happy Australian link was the fact that the preacher, the Rt. Rev. J. D. McKie, rector of Berkswell. and at present assistant Bishop in the diocese of Coventry, and the Abbey organist Sir William McKie, are brothers. The congregation filed out as a peal was rung on the bells of the Abbey and exchanged places with the queueing tourists outside to take over the church for sightseeing once again.