HOPES SHARED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 June 1941, Page 6

HOPES SHARED

MESSAGE FROM BRITISH MONARCH

ADDRESSED TO THE KING OF THE HELLENES. GRATITUDE FOR GALLANT CO-OPERATION. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, June 12. Tlie King has sent to the King of the Hellenes the following message;— "The loss of Crete must be to your Majesty and ail the Greeks, as it is to us. a bitter blow. We share your grief, but we also share your hopes. News has reached- this country daily to prove that the tragedy of Greece has left unbroken the spirit of your gallant people, who have shown, and continue co show, heroism and disregard for odds which are unsurpassed in history. Your country, indeed, has been overwhelmed, but the spirit of the Greek people remains high and the fume of their resistance will outlast the transitory conquests of the enemy.

"Fortified t by the Greek example, we shall centime the struggle, proud to have at our side those units of your fleet which survived the battle, the nucleus of the new Hellenic air force, and cadres of the new army. "Meanwhile, my Government learns that the Hellenic communities overseas are expressing determination to pursue the struggle for victory and are asking how best they can help. I greet, through your Majesty, all' who fought in the valiant Hellenic armies on the mainland, those who fought in Crete, and particularly the injured and the bereaved, and I thank you, one and all, each and individually, for your co-operation, for the battles which you have won, for the help you gave my soldiers, and for the tremendous moral blow which you have struck for the common cause.

"To you and your people we are for ever grateful, and in our gratitude we do not forget that great statesman General Metaxas, who said to the Italians, ‘Yen shall not pass,’ nor his successor. IvL Korizis who said ‘No’ to a yet more powerful fee.”