THE KING’S COAT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20571, 3 June 1941, Page 6

THE KING’S COAT

ASKED TO DISCARD IT TARGET’ FOR AIRCRAFT SYDNEY, June 1. Because the brilliant uniform worn by King George of Greece in his trek across Crete made him a conspicuous target for German aeroplanes, a junior New Zealand officer mustered up courage and asked the King to take his coat off —which he did without demur, cables John Hetherington, the war correspondent of the Sun m Egypt. The 16 New Zealand infantrymen who escorted the King of the Hellenes on this three-day journey think that the King is a "No. 1 good bloke.” An Auckland officer, Lieutenant Winton Ryan, who headed the party, told me;—“The King was splendid. You just had to say to him. ‘Things are a bit tough. Get in a corner, will you?’, and lie would obey quite simply.” Lieutenant Ryan said that the King gave the party a lew uneasy moments when they first set out, after the vanguard of German parachutists had landed in Crete on May 20.

“The King was dressed in the full uniform of a Greek general, covered with brilliant braid and with four rows of brilliant ribbons on his chest. ‘After all, he was a King, and we did not like to ask him to take off his coat, although we were afraid it would attract cne of the German aeroplanes which were prowling overhead. “Eventually I decided to take a chance, and explained the situation. He shed the coat without complaint.”