War Period.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20603, 2 May 1935, Page 5 (Supplement)

War Period.

The Nation’s “Well Done.” king visits his armies. PERHAPS the war years were the time of testing of the British monarchy.. Right, from the beginning of the war the King and Queen in every way possible made Royal influence an encouragement to all kinds of effort for victory. They went regularly in state to prorogue and open Parliament on successive sessions. Many times during those years they paid visits to important munitions factories, as well as to shipbuilding vards, hospitals and other institutions whoso aim was the same—to help in the crisis. The King went often into the industrial areas where the normal goods of peace were being produced. Their Majesties attended divine service, where, as seldom fief ore, they were united with their people in bonds of the spirit. Such was the funeral service for Earl Kitchener, June 13, 1916; the commemoration service of the entry of the United States into the war, April 20, 1917; tlio Albert Hall commemoration of the first seven divisions, December 15, 1917; or the thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s for Their Majesties’ silver wedding, July G, 1018. As a sailor, the King was enthusiastic about the Grand Fleet. Several times he made inspectional visits. Once, in 1917, he joined in the manoeuvres. He well realised what the fleet stood for.

Though the King showed by his demeanour at Home during the war that the nation’s grief was his grief, he did more than do his best to help the nation at Home. Five times he went to France, and thus it was that ne came to know the horror of the Flanders mud; of the conditions where men fought—and died for their country and in his name.

Incidentally, when he joined his armies in the field, he was the first English King to do so since 1743, when George 11. was in command at Dettingen. It was another instance of the breaking down of the tradition which would bind a monarch to his Court with the bonds of officialdom. When the first Expeditionary Force went to France, the King sent a message to his troops expressing his confidence in them. “Your welfare will never be absent rrom my thoughts,” he wrote. He fulfilled his promise in a way which they probably never expected. Promise Fulfilled. His first visit to them was on November 30, 1914, and lasted a week. He inspected masses of troopfe paraded be-i tingent which had lately arrived. He visited a number of army corps headquarters and made the acquaintance of their staff. At casualty clearing stations and at convalescent camps he brought many a smile to the faces of wounded men, and a new confidence when it was sorely needed. On one day he stood on a hill in Flanders and for the first time saw through the mists the ghostly city of Ypres, while between him and the city rolled grey ridges afterwards to be the scene of desperate fighting without quarter. Almost a year went by before the King went a«»aiu. His second visit was from October 22 to November 7, 1915. The weather was wet and dismal. The

countrv was maemire. This ouutlook was black. The battle of Loos had juefci been fought with fearful casualties. The Allies were heavily out-gunned in th©. Ypres salient, and in the territory round* Lens.

The King drove down the battlescarred roads, and the men, themselves battle-scarred, stood there in the rain and cheered him as he passed, cheered him until the enemy might have wondered what else the “mad Englishmen” were about.

It was during that visit on October 8 that the King met with a serious accident. He was thrown from his horse and badly hurt. On the day following an ambulance passed through the little town of Lillers on its way to the hospital train. Along that road many euch an ambulance had passed, and those who noted this one in particular, with a pity dulled by familiarity, did not know that under those closed flaps lay the King of England. Though 1 ' in great pain he' insisted in decorating one of the Coldstream Guards with the Victoria Cross. The ceremony was performed in the liosxntal train, though the King was. so weak that he could not pin the brooch to the khaki uniform without assistance.

Eight months later Hie Majesty was well enough again to visit the Front, and against the* advice of his generals, he went right into the danger zone to see actual war conditions on battlefields which were still under fire. He stood amongst the guns firing at the German lines, plainly visible from the ridge where the King was.

His most thrilling visit was in July of 1917, when the Queen accompanied him, though naturally not to places within the danger zone. The risks he took on that visit were not prudent; I but his soldiers did not care about his I prudence as they cheered him as he came amongst them. .For one thing, he insisted on climbing Messines Ridge which had only Just been taken after countless others alreadp there. The tremendous effort, and on looking down on the German lines. The place was certainly dangerous, but the King, with steel helmet on head and gas mask over face, laughed at the grave faces of his generals as lie slipped and etumbled along the duck boards. For 20 minutes he lingered near the ruins of the White Chateau. Hardly had he gone, when the enemy guns shelled the place he had left. Three times an incident :>f that kind happened, j

His Brave Message. Then he climbed Viiny Ridge, on which every now and then a shell would explode to make another hole from . Prince of Wales was with him; but it was no new experience to his heir. After the fateful days of March, 1918, twice again the King slipped over the channel and sent a brave message to Field-Marshal Haig: “Though for the moment our troops have been obli<sed by sheer weight of numbers to give some ground,” he wrote,- “the impression left on my mind is that no army could be in better heart or more confident than that which you have the honour to command. Anyone privileged to share these experiences would feel with n\e proud of the British race, and of the unconquerable spirit, which will, please God, bring us through our present trials.” In every way, then, the King and Queen did what they could for the nation; and when the war was over, the nation said “well done.” It was that thought which brought thousands surging to the gates of Buckingham Palace on November 11. 1918. It was that thought that led to the tumultuous reception given the King and Queen as they rode through the different parts of London in the days immediately after the war. Perhaps the last act of the war, was when, on November 11, 1929, the King stood in Westminster Abbey as chief mourner before the grave of the Unknown Soldier, a man unknown, whom they buried among the kings because thousands such had done great good for the people. <