British communities in cities along the Yangtze will receive with considerable satisfaction and a sense of congratulation the announcement that Rear-Admiral Reginald Vesey Holt, Rear-Admiral and Senior Naval Officer, Yangize, has been promoted Vice-Admiral. During ihe past two years every British community between Shanghai and Chungking—and indeed in every port in China—has come to appreciate in a very definite manner the presence and influence of H.M. Navy, but along the Yangtze, where the tide of war and destruction, menace to life and property, has rolled relentlessly, this presence has been even more appreciatively experienced. Vice-Admiral Holt arrived in China in 1937 as the Sino-Japanége hostilities were developing, and in comm of the British Yangtze Flotilla his tour of service has been strenuous and exciting. He was in Nanking shortly before the fall of the city to the Japanese and then proceeded up-river to Hankow, It was on his return trip down river that the series of incidents occurred involving the shelling of H.M.S. Bee, his flagship, the attack on the Ladybird and the sinking of the USS. Panay by the Japanese aeroplanes. Vice-Admiral Holt arrived at Wuhu after H.M.S. Ladybird had been shelled and himself came under fire but the efforts of Lieut-Col. Lovatt Fraser and Mr. H. I, Prideaux Bruno resulted in the "sation of fire. It w at that time that news was received of the siting of the Panay and Vice-Admiral Holt rushed to the assistance of the stricken vessel and took charge of rescue operations—an act which received official commendation and warmest thanks in American circles. Later, at Hankow, as Senior Naval Officer, he was responsible for the safety of the foreign areas during the period of conquest and destruction marking Japanese occupation of the city. It was largely due to his firm and resolute handling of the situation that incidents were avoided, and it was under his supervision that the hazardous task of removing the dynamite planted by retreating Chinese troops in buildings next to foreign consulates, banks and other buildings was carried out, averting another menace tt foreign lives and property in Hankow. The British communities along the Yangtze owe Vice-Admiral Holt a huge debt of gratitude for his services during the past two years, and. therefore, will rejoice in the fact that thes: services have been so appropriately recognized by H. M. Government.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.