London Honors Eisenhower 12 June 1945

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London Honors Eisenhower London Letter 12 June 1945 Macdonald Hastings LONDON HONORS EISENHOWER LONDON, Tuesday.-London crowds lining the streets during the. lunch hour acclaimed General Eisenhower when he drove through tho city in an open horse-drawn landau to the Guild hall to receive tho freedom of the City of London. Ho went by car from his hotel to Tem- ple Bar, the boundary of tho city, where he-changed into a landau, with Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder beside him for a triumphal progress along tho traditional path of kings and heroes to the historic Guildhall. The pavements near Temple Bar were blocked with people long be fore noon, when General Eisenhower was due. Police had to prevent the crowds, against whom there were no barriers, from surging round the landau as it drove away. The heads of the services-Admiral of tho Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham, Gene- ral Sir Alan Brooke, and Air Chief Mar- shal Sir Charles Portal, were among the guests. The Lord Mayor, in his black and gold robes, stood on the dais of the bomb-damaged Guildhall receiving person- alities, whose arrival, announced by the Master of Ceremonies.", was applauded by the crowd in the hall. 3Ir. Churchill was recognised and cheered as he drove to tho .Guildhall in a. car. He waved au acknowledgment of the crowd's cheers. After General Eisenhower had been greeted, the Lord Mayor temporarily handed over the Duke of Wellington's sword in place of tho sword of honor, which is to be presented to General Eisen- however, but which is not yet ready. General Eisenhower clicked his heels, bowed and received the sword. The audience rose and cheered. Ho was ob- viously moved by the reception. "I am overcome," he said. His first words of thanks were little above n whisper, but ho quickly recovered his composure, and hardly referred to his notes as he deliv- ered his speech. THINGS THAT COUNT. "Humility must always be tho portion of any mail who receives acclaim earned in the blood of bis followers and the sacrifices of his friends," said General Eisenhower when he received tho freedom of London at the Guildhall. After contrasting the newness of tho towns of Abilene and Denison, in Texas, where he was born and lived, in the heart of America, with the vastness and historic associations of London, he said: "Yet kinship among the nations is not determined iu such measurements as proximity, size and age. Rather, we should turn to those inner things, those intangibles, that arc the real treasures that free men possess. "To preserve his freedom of worship, equality before the law and liberty to speak and act aa ho sees fit, subject only to tho provision that he shall not tres- pass upon the similar rights of others, the Londoner will fight; so will the citizen of Abilene."

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