SERVICE IN LONDON IS WELL ATTENDED

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 April 1949, Page 2

SERVICE IN LONDON IS WELL ATTENDED

(Recd. 11 a.m.) LONDON, April 25. New Zealanders and Australians in London filled the Church of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, for the Anzac Day commemoration service. It was the largest crowd which had ever attended the service.

Among those present were the two Prime Ministers, Mr Fraser and Mr Chifley, and New Zealand High Commissioner, Mr Jordan, Lord Birdwood and members of the New Zealand cricket team. Representatives of the three British services also attended. The vicar of Saint Martin’s, the Rev. L. M. Charles Edwards, conducted the service and Mr Jordan read the Lesson. The Rev. S. F. Woods, formerly of Christchurch, who was a padre in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, gave the address. Wreaths At Cenotaph After the service many of those ipresent went to Whitehall to see the ceremony of placing wreaths on the Cenotaph. Among those who placed wreaths were Lord Birdwood, Mr Fraser, Mr Chifley, Mr Jordan, representatives of the New Zealand Returned Services’ Association and of the British armed services and Allied Governments, the British Legion, the Anzac Fellowship of Women, the Legacy Club, the Merchant Navy, the Royal Naval Division, the Indian Army, the French Army and Navy and Pakistan. Foi’ the second successive year, Anzac Day was officially observed in Berlin. Military, diplomatic and civilian leaders of the occupying nations attended a service in the Berlin garrison church in the British sector. Observance In Australia

A strong New Zealand contingent was given a place of honour ahead of the Ist A.I.F. in the Anzac Day inarch in Sydney today. The New Zealanders were led by three Maoris. , A crowd estimated at more than 250.000 watched the march, in which about 32,000 servicemen and women of the two world wars took part. In other cities and towns in Australia hundreds of thousands of servicemen and others took part in marches and commemoration services.