BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 September 1943, Page 3

BATTLE OF BRITAIN

OBSERVANCE OF THIRD ANNIVERSARY THANKSGIVING SERVICE AT ST. PAUL’S. FOR COURAGE AND DEVOTION THAT SAVED NATION. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 26. Today, the third anniversary of the Battle of Britain, is being observed as a day of prayer and celebration throughout Britain. The King and Queen were present at the morning service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Seated immediately behind their Majesties at the east end of the nave beneath the great dome were members of the War Cabinet and of the Government, members of the Diplomatic Corps, and representatives of all the Armed Forces of the United Nations. Included were veterans of the Battle of Britain, members of the Anti-Air-craft Command, the Royal Observers’ Corps, the Civil Defence Services, the National Fire Service, the Police Force and the naval and military bomb disposal services, workers for the Ministry of Aircraft Production, and representatives of the gas, water, electricity and transport services, including holders of the George Cross and other decorations won for gallantry during air attacks. Their Majesties were accompanied by the Princess Marie Louise and the Princess Helena Victoria, and were received at the foot of the steps to the west door of the Cathedral by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Samuel N. Joseph. The King was wearing the uniform of an Air Marshal. During the service there was a prayer of thanksgiving “for the courage of all who guarded this land from the peril of invasion, for the endurance and skill of the men of the R.A.F., and all the men and women who were at their several posts of defence, for the devotion to duty of those who laboured in the factories and workshops, or who ministered to the injured and homeless.”

Londoners were given an opportunity to express their appreciation for the winners of the Battle of Britain when the airmen, ground crews, antiaircraft gunners and men and women who made the aircraft passed in procession from Wellington Barracks along Birdcage Walk to Whitehall and the Mall.

Officers and men of the Fighter Command, all of whom were engaged in the Battle of Britain, came last in the procession. They were led by pilots with many kills to their credit. The R.A.F. in Malta also joined in the commemoration of the Battle of Britain with an open-air service on what used to be the most-bombed airfield in the world. STIRRING TRIBUTE TO VALUE OF THE R.A.F. PAID BY AMERICAN AIR CHIEF (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 26. The Chief of the U.S. Army Air Forces. General Arnold, paid a stirring tribute to the R.A.F. in a personal telegram to the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, on the third anniversary of the Battle of Britain. General Arnold recalled that three years ago today after a struggle lasting from dawn to dusk for 50 days the Luftwaffe first gave up the attempt to cross Britain’s skies in- daylight. The conflict with British pilots was to continue unabated for 84 days in all, till the enemy realised that Britain was invulnerable. The enemy had intended to ground the R.A.F. as a prelude to invasion, but the R.A.F. could not be grounded. “It was thanks to the valiant fighters that beleaguered Britain held out,” said General Arnold. “The change we see in our fortunes and prospects could not have been accomplished without the victory which we commemorate today. Mr Churchill in a recent statement has given us the facts —the R.A.F. is now maintaining nearly 50 per cent more first-line aircraft on all war fronts than the Luftwaffe. The British and American Air Forces are being supplied with an ever-increasing number of new aircraft, exceeding the corresponding German supply by more than four to one.

“The United States Army Air Forces join wholeheartedly with Britain in paying tribute to the dauntless R.A.F., and are proud to be fighting side by side with the gallant airmen to whom the United States owes so much.”