THE GREAT AIR TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20725, 19 November 1930, Page 8

THE GREAT AIR TRAGEDY.

FUNERAL OF RlOl VICTIMS.

LONDON'S SOLEMN HOUR.

(TOUCHING GRAVESIDE SCENE.

XfBOM our own correspondent. l ) LONDON. Oct. 17.

It was a beautiful autumn day last Paturday when the victims of the RlOl tragedy passed tn their last resting place. '"lf onJy they liarl started a week later," was the thought in the minds of many people. There would have been no storm to fight against, a successful flight, no mourning. The pavements were crowded all the way from Westminster to Euston railway station. The procession took three-quarters of an hour to pass a given point; and the. million spectators stood tenso and silent all the time. 1/indoners will long remember that most solemn hour. A little group of people watched the procession from upper windows in tlio building that has been bought for the Nc>v Zealand House of the future.

First in the procession came a detachment of mounted police, the horses wondeilfully controlled. Indeed, it seemed as though some of them were actually in step with tho music. The men of the 'Air Force followed in a column of fours a hundred yards long. The reversed arms, the perfect alignment, and the rhythm of their slow march prepared one fo/ impressions that were to follow. iThe Royal wreaths and the Air Council wreath were carried by men of the Air Force. Then the band of the Royal Air Force Approached, their music increasing in volume, and as it did so finally preparing spectators for a truly solemn and touching experience of their lives. Cofllns on Forty-eight Waggons. Each coffin was carried in an Army waggon. This was drawn by four horses of a like colour. A driver was mounted on the left-hand horse of each pair. A mounted sergeant rode beside. Two soldiers sat in tho driver's seat of the waggon. On each side of the waggon Were three bearers from the Royal Air Force. Each coffin was covered by a Union Jack and surmounted by flowers of many colours —lilies and roses, carnations, chrysanthemums and dahlias, and autumn leaves made up into trophies of remarkable sizo and design. Had there been but one waggon containing a great soldier or a public servant who had passed naturally to his rest one could have looked on with detachment. But this seemingly endless procession of tho victims who had gambled with the ruthless elements was different. One by one, tho waggons passed. Each coffin represented a life taken in its full vigour of youth and hope, a group of sore hearts, or a family .with a destiny entirely changed. One, two, three, 10, 12 passed by. Would they never end ? One must cease to count. More waggons, more coffins, still they came. The twenty-fourth, and then relief for a time. The funeral march of the Air Force Band faded in the distance. A minute passed and then the steady tramp, tramp of the 3rd Grenadier men, made taller still by their black busbies. Their long overcoats hid any glaring colour, and they carried arms reversed. Behind them came the band of the Welsh Guards, their solemn notes again preparing the silent spectators for even more touching scenes. Twenty-four Army waggons bearing coffins—as this second part of the cortege passed one could not help wondering whe!her/the quest for knowledge and the mechanical developments of this age brought with them happiness. However, this funeral pageant was in a way a tribute to the great unknown, an indication that though men strive to conquer the natural forces they do so in all humility and count the cost. ' Saddest Sight of All. Perhaps the saddest part of the procession came last of all. Twenty-seven cars contained relatives of the dead. All that had gone before had that touch of pageantry in it which indicated not only sorrow, but a national pride in the men who had given their lives for their country. Here in these 27 cars were those whose hearts were yet too sore to think of honour and duty. They had lost theii? loved ones and little else mattered at present. At Euston station was gathered perhaps the greatest concourse of people on the route. Tho coffins were soon removed from the road into the rail waggons. Tho band of the Royal Air Force played the music of appropriate hymns, and it wj»s with the tune of "Rock of Ages" that London made its final gesture of salute. The coffins were shut, from sight within big vans. Only the huge wreath on the foremost engine and the black-garbed mourners in the coaches that followed marked this as a funeral train. The October afternoon was approaching the time of twilight when the long funeral procession drew within sight of those who were waiting in the cemetery at Cardington. Within tha Cemetery. Within the cemetery the mourners gathered beside a grave almost as big as the lounge of the airship itself, a shallow gravo hung at the sides with artificial grass on which were scattered bronze chrysanthemums, carnations, and gladioli. Into this hollow an inclined trench bad been dug. and down the trench tho <l3 coffins, each covered with the Union Jack, and strewn with rose petals, were carried by comrades of the dead men. At the same time the band played softlv a number of familiar hymn tunes. The great mound of earth beside the grave glowed with masses of flowers, arid at the pdee of the grave on flip same side stood soldiers holding the Royal wreaths. Behind them was the firing party, leaning on reversed rifles. More flowers were on the side of the grave nearest to the road, and at, the other two sides were the clergy arid the mourners and the represent atives of the three services. There were four services—Anglican, Frsbyterian, Weslevan and Roman Catholic! Wneri the last words had been proroil ne ed there was silence, for some a silence so laden with emotion that when it was shattered by the volleys of the firing-party they found themselves suddenly at the end of their endurance. Trumpets at the graveside sounded the "Last, Post," and from the fields outside the cemetery the call was answered by the triumphant notes of the. Reveille. New Zealand's Tributes. Wreaths were sent, by the New Zealand High C ommissioner, Sir Thomas Wilford, representing the New Zealand Air Force and the, Government and people of New Zealand. The former, which was a chaplet with solid ground of chrysanthemums and a spray of golden chrysanthemums, mimosa and autumn foliage, was inscribed: "With deepest, sympathy froin the members of the New Zealand Air Force." The Government wreath was a chaplet of todioides fern with spray of carnations and white roses, and bore the words: "With deepest sympathy from the Government and People of New Zealand."