HONOURING AMERICA

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 149, 14 September 1927, Page 9

HONOURING AMERICA

FRANCE PREPARES WELCOME TO LEGIONARIES By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright LONDON, Monday. The Paris correspondent of “The Times” says extensive preparations are being made in the French capital for the entertainment of 20,000 American ex-servicemen and their families who are now approaching France in 20 liners to hold the annual convention of the American Legion. France is determined to honour the visitors as fully as she did the first legionaries in 1917. Triumphal arches are being erected, the principal streets are being decorated and prepared for illumination, and the Court des Invalides is being roofed in. There the Government will give an enormous ball. As the legionaries have announced that their visit will also be a pilgrimage the principal ceremony will be a march to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. For this the barriers at the Arc de Triomphe are being removed for the second time since the Germans marched to the spot in 1870. The first occasion was to mark the Allied Victory March in 1919. The Government realises that the visit of the Americans will afford a unique opportunity for touching the hearts of Americans in the Middle West and is fully using the situation. It is expected to appeal to the legionaries to facilitate a settlement of Franco-American finances.—Times.