WONDERFUL SPIRIT

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21215, 11 September 1940, Page 7

WONDERFUL SPIRIT

THE PEOPLE OF LONDON AMERICAN PRESSMAN’S TRIBUTE NOT ONE WOMAN CRIED (United Press Asn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 9 The opinion was expressed in informed circles to-day that until a means of dealing adequately with night bombing has been evolved—a problem occupying the attention of Gei'man as well as British experts—civilian morale is the most important single factor in the war today. Judgment, even by neutral journalists, of the German morale is difficult, perhaps impossible, as the spite of the cruel Gestapo effectively prevents expression. In Britain very different conditions prevail. Views are propounded freely and the reaction to the recent experiences is easy to assess. In a radio broadcast today, an American journalist, Mr John MacDane, said: “It was pretty unpleasant during the second raid, because everyone felt they were right on the target. But, during it all, ambulances and trucks kept on rolling up to the shelters, taking aboard 20 or 30 women and children and rolling away again with them. “The spirit of the people was nothing short of wonderful. People who had lost their homes and relatives were not happy, but I saw hundreds of women, and not one was crying. One policeman looked at the lines of homeless people, then said disgustedly: ‘To think we give those Nazi airmen tea when they land here!’ “The wife of a hotelkeeper, who had a hotel not more than three or four hundred yards from the docks, said: ‘I was going to celebrate my 41st wedding anniversary tonight. My husband was going to take me out to supper. I guess I will have to celebrate here.’ Then she laughed and called for a round of drinks for the customers.”