PRINCE AT LILLE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 9 August 1928, Page 5

PRINCE AT LILLE

IMPROMPTU SPEECH

i PROUD TO BE A PILGRIM

WHY THEY CAME

United Press Association—By Eleotrio Telegraph—Copyright. Australian Press Association

a LONDON, Bth August. . The Prince of Wales, during the interval at the concert at the Lille town liall, in responding to a great demonstration went to the platform and made an impromptu speech. He said: “I am proud to be a legionary on my seventh pilgrimage. It is a great event in our lives and the life of our organisation. Why should we have taken four days of our* precious holiday to visit places which, once when waiting for the strafe to begin, wo hoped never to sec again? Firstly, it is to pay tribute to our comrades buried in foreign soil; secondly, to show interest in the happier conditions or the battlefield and to .congratulate those wiio have worked the change. Also, we have come to cement tho woiiderful friendship with our comrades of the French army,” 1 There was great cheering when jhe Prince concluded: “Vivo la France!” ! SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE LONDON, Bth August. Ypres was crowded with troops and spectators, who congregated at Menin Gate for the service of remembrance. The Prince of Wales metr Prince Charles of Belgium under the ruins of the Cloth Hall. » After Admiral Jellicoe had wreathed the Belgian memorial on behalf of the British Legion, the Archbishop of York took the service at Menin Gate. Addressing the pilgrims he said: When we remember the . sacrifice, toil, treasure and blood poured out on the fields of France and Flanders, the question springs to my mind—was it worth while? The unfaltering reply must be—- “ Yes; a thousand times yes! Failure to honour a national pledge is something that- no safety and no prosperity can atone.”