Mr. Churchill added: To the glorious action of the River Plate, there has recently been added an epilogue, namely, last week's rescue, under the noses of the enemy, and amid tangies of one-sided neutrality, of British captives by the Cossack.
"To Nelson's immortal signal 'Eng: land expects every man to do his duty', may now be added 'The Navy is here'."—Reuter, sons.
As each officer and man stepped forward during the investiture, the cense crowds roared their appreciation.
The men were from the Ajax and Exeter, two of the cruisers which took part in the engagement with the Graf Spee. A contingent from the two warships arrived in London during the morning.
When they marched away after the investiture, traffic in central London was dislocated for a lengthy period, owing to the enthusiasm of the hundreds of thousands of people who flocked to welcome the sailors.
Scenes scarcely paralleled since the Coronation greeted the officers and men of the Ajax and Exeter—two of the British cruisers which took part in the battle against the German pocket-battleship Graf Spee—when they arrived at Waterloo Station today.
From the station they marched through the City to the Guildhall, where they were entertained to luncheon by the Lord Mayor and City Corporation.
More than 600 men arrived by train from Devonport, and were joined as they left the station by the small contingent who were already in London.
The train was met by the combined bands of the two ships, drawn up on the platform. As the train stopped the band-major flung his staff into the air.
As the men marched out, led by the bands, cheer upon cheer crashed out, almost drowning the music.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.