VALIANT ACHILLES HOME SOON

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 43, 20 February 1940, Page 8

VALIANT ACHILLES HOME SOON

RED LETTER DAY J < GREAT PUBLIC WELCOME Heroes Of Graf Spee Battle Will Be Acclaimed In Auckland

MARCH TO TOWN HALL

Supported by a spontaneous upwelling of popular enthusiasm, engendered by admiration for the heroic sHips company of H.M.S. Achilles, who distinguished themselves in the defeat of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, a reception committee, under the presidency of the Mayor, Sir Ernest Davis, made arrangements to-day for a public welcome to mark the homecoming of the .gallant crew. A red-letter day in the history of the city, and, indeed, of New Zealand, is in prospect. It promises to be as memorable as that on which Mafeking was relieved in the South African War, or, in more recent years, as Armistice Day in 1918. Advice that the Achilles will soon return to her home port was received to-day. In a Press Association telegram from Wellington the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon M. J. Savage, announced that H.M.S. Achilles is on her way back to New Zealand, and will proceed to Auckland. The telegram adds that relatives of members of the ship's company who wish to be present when she arrives are advised to be in Auckland by Friday next, February 23. The expected time of arrival will be announced later, said the Prime Minister. An official account of the ship's activities will be published shortly after her arrival. Through an excess of official secrecy, the day and time of arrival of H.M.S. Achilles have not been announced, but it is being assumed here that the cruiser will arrive on Friday. The school children of Auckland are to be given a holiday on that day.