Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-05-28
KING GEORGE, HOST,
DECORATES A|RMEN
Hawker and Grieve Receive
Air Force Cross; First
Actual Recipients.
CHEERED\AT BUCKINGHAM


from Thurso, Scotland. after being
rescued in mjdocean when their air
plane in which they were attempting
to cross the Atlantic alighted neal
the Danish steamer Mary. were re-
ceived by King George at Bucklng'
ham Palace this morning.
King George bestowed on Hawkel
and Grieve the insignia Of the all
force cross. They are the first actua
recipients of this order.
An immense crowd gathered in from
of Buckingham Palace to witness the
arrival OF Hawker and Grieve. who
| were loudly cheered when they made
their appearance. The crowd also
gave them an ovation when they lef'
the palace.
| The air force cross with which King
George decorated Hawker and Grieve
| is a new honor which is bestowed FOL
devotion to duty"
Australia Leads Demonstration.
The reception of Hawker and Grieve
at the Kings Cross station excellee
IN popular demonstrations anything
given any general or member of q
royal family during the war.
| 1t was particularly an Australian
occasion. There were thousands oil
Australian soldiers in and around the
station, accompanied by their bands
as the train pulled in. There was
continuous singing of Australian
Will Be There" and the peculiar erie:
of the Australian bushmen.
| The mayor Of St. Pancras and the
| s41 =
with the huge gilt mace OF the bor-
ough officially welcomed the aviators
In the background were many gen.
! erals, members Of the house Of com.
mons and British. French, American
and other aviators.
After the formal reception the Aus
tralian soldiers lifted Hawker and
Grieye on their shoulders and car
| ried them to their motor cars. Hawk
er was plainly nervous as he sat in
| his car, dressed in a blue suit. Beads
| of Precipitation were to be seen on his
brow. Mrs. Hawker and Grieve fol-
lowed Hawker in succeeding cars.
Hoped to Be First Across.
| In a further statement made tc
the Daily Mail correspondent a,
Edinburgh. Tuesday, Hawker said re.
garding his attempt to cross the At.
1antic: s'''.s sss, =s.'as 4
| was better and the moon was dying
| fast and IL we had not 4taSted, sthe1
M fht have miss9 n
being Arst across.
1.-The Americans were oh. They
were very serious propositions. They
had one leg to go and we had one
| to go. We knew that one American
machine had reached the Azores ant
| reports came that all three were
there. That was very serious and
we had decided overnight with Capt
| Raynham (who was to attempt the
flight from st. Johns in a Martynsidt
machine) that we would start IL the
| weather was at all hopeful.
las matter of fact we vent away
on fewer weather reports than W.
had had any day previously. It 'was
| splendid get-off-much better thar
we had expected.
"Jolly Good Climb"
I'VE passed over Quidividi at 1000
feet, being six miles from the air
drome in a straight line, a jolly good
climb with that load. We saw Rayn.
ham and his machine surrounded by a
crowd and kissed him good bye"
| The correspondent says that here
|
both the aviators. 1t showed that
Hawker remained seated the whole
time, but that Grieve moved about
1 kneeling to examine the drift indi-
| Gator, standing up for observation Oh
going forward for the wireless Each
Of them ate sandwich and drank
four cups of coffee out Of a vacuum
flask.
"And the next thing I ate." said
|
hours later" adding. with a laugh
Yes, we didn't take enough calories
The fact is I was very seasick when
we got down low and afterward fol-
two days in the ship"
ut was like being in small motor
boat in heavy sea when we few
down to look for a ship" Hawkel
added. 1--WE were between high waves
and were bumped about quite badly
Waves Dashed Over Machine.
Describing their position when the
plane alighted. Hawker and Grieve
knees and the waves were close te
the upper plane at times. The nose
of the machine was turned into the
wind and now and again a big wave
dashed over 1t.
Il had to laugh" said Hawker
came up under the top plane, which
up to that time, had been dry and
shining. "It lifted us up and I saw
the trailing edge of the top plane
break clean away"
Hawker said they spent their time
discussing how the Mary,was handled
and whether she could salve the ma.
chine and its appliances. All this time
the little boat carried by the Sopwitt
machine was aioat beside the plane
| n ,ofv a liz
| when the ships boat reached the
plane" said Hawker. she banged
right into the machine and we hopped
on board. The ship slung a rope Out
and hauled the boat back and we
climbed aboard the Mary.
I'VE had been waiting SO long that
we felt calloused to the whole thing
| We had a jolly good feeling when
we saw the ship messing about. Look.
ing for ship for two hours and
| being seasick the whole time WASN'T
| very merry and bright"
Relief at Sight Of Ship.
1--WE certainly had a feeling OF
the ship" said Grieve. After thai
| we were all right. The machine was
| floating well on her general BUOY.
ancy. Even the engines held air and
there were. Of course, also air spaces
\ Grieve asked the captain whether
he could salve the machine, but the
captain regretted his inability to dc
SO. and said:
THAT was, narrow escape fol-
YOU"
I'VE were rescued at $50 O'Clock
| Greenwich time" said Grieve, land
lost everything. We went aboard the
Mary without caps or boots. All my
log had been washed out of my
pocket except one small page of rough
| notes" :,
Both were reluctant to describe