RIVER PLATE BATTLE

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23203, 14 December 1940, Page 10

RIVER PLATE BATTLE

MEMORIAL UNVEILED AT AUCKLAND

■ (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGEAiI.) AUCKLAND, December 13;

Auckland’s pride in the performancl of the New Zealand "cruiser H.M.S. Achilles and her gallant company n. the epic battle of the River Plate was given tangible and permanent expression when a memorial on Achilles Point was dedicated and unveiled. The

ceremony was held on the first anniversary of the action, which brought about the destruction of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spefi. Situated on a projecting' head Jam overlooking a wide expanse of the wwtemata Harbour east of St. Hehers. the memorial takes the form of a look , ou !; which somewhat resembles the lore part of a ship. Low concrete walls surmounted with iron -railings converge

to a point like a ship’s bow, and the upper portion of the enclosure is not unlike the upper structure of a vessel The Mayor (Sir Ernest Davis) welcomed a representative attendance including the Minister for Defence (the Hob. F. Jones). Commodore w. » Parry, Chief of the Naval Staff, who commanded the Achilles in the action, Mrs Parry, Mrs H. E. Horan, wife of Commodore Hpran, two officers ana eight ratings who served on the Achilles, in the battle, and who are now in the Philomel, and Chief Yeoman « Signals L. C. Martinson, D.S.M., who

is still suffering from wounds received in the action. In dedicating the memorial and unveiling the commemorative plate, M Jones said that he did not know of an j site more appropriate to give expression to the Dominion’s appreciation of the gallantry of the men of the Achilles. He paid tribute to the services of Commodore Parry.