U.S. ARMADA ARRIVES IN IRELAND

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 117, 20 May 1942, Page 5

U.S. ARMADA ARRIVES IN IRELAND

ALMOST A WHOLE

ARMY

(U.P.A. and Official Wireless.)

LONDON, May 18. Large enough to constitute an army in itself, and accompanied by millions of pounds' worth of battle equipment, the largest contingent of United States troops to cross the Atlantic has landed in. Northern Ireland.

A correspondent with the convoy said he is allowed to say that this is one of the most powerful armadas that has ever embarked on a military venture overseas. The troops and equipment fanned out till the Irish countryside was heavy with the noise of rumbling troop convoys, fastmoving light tanks, and mobile antitank guns and artillery. The contingent comprises mainly infantry, but its composition is so miscellaneous as to indicate the fulfilment of the recent anouncement by the United States Army Chief, General Marshall, that various types of American troops would be stationed in the British Isles.

OFFICIAL WELCOME. Most of the combatant troops are of husky physique.

As soon as they got ashore, the men were served with American meals. The shore organisation was completely American, though the British Army authorities gave considerable assistance.

Major-General V. H. B. Majendie, General Officer Commanding, Northern Ireland District, welcomed the

Americans. Major-General R. P. Hartle, who commands "the American forces in Northern Ireland, expressed great satisfaction at the arrival of so many thousands of troops.

An eye-witness states that the dis embarkation took several days.

The people of Northern Ireland gave the contingent a great welcome. They have made great friends with.earlier arrivals, and the new men are already finding out the fine hospitality which greets them.

Nurses attached to Harvard University accompanied the troops. All the nurses, who are second-lieutenants, wore blue slacks —not the official issue, but adopted as protection against the cold winds of the Atlantic.

The hospital unit was very disappointed not to have been the first medical unit to.come to Europe in this war. It was the first to establish a hospital in France in the last war. Its doctors are drawn from the university's medical school, and all the nurses come from its affiliated hospitals.