Evening star., 1942-06-29
By CLIFFORD P. MOREHOUSE,
Written for The Star and North American
Nevspaper Alliance, Inc

written for The Star and North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc.
LONDON, June 29.-Canterbury
Cathedral, the mother church of
English Christianity, still stands.
Despite one Of the heaviest of the
1912 blitzes on cathedral towns,
there is relatively little damage to
this historic shrine beyond the
shattering of stained glass windows
and the finest of these had been
removed to a place of safety long
before the attack.
But the town of Canterbury, in
cludlng the immediate environs of
the cathedral, and even the walled
cathedral precincts, suffered cruelty.
And there were civilian casualties
in some cases whole families
wiped out-though, considering the
ferocity of the four major attacks,
casualties were remarkably small.
The town clerk was one of the vic
TINS. A family of seven, just evacu-
ated to Canterbury after series of
blitzes on coast town, was wiped
houses.
A labor leader who had been in
the London and Dover blitzes said
:hat the principal Canterbury at
tack. which took place on Sunday
aight, was more concentrated than
either of those.
Directed Against Cathedral.
BY DR.. Goebbels' own admission,
through the controlled German press
and radio, the attack on Canterbury
was in reprisal for the RAF attack
on Cologne and was directed against
the cathedral and it's "Bolshevist
archbishop" incidentally, it was
that same archbishop. DR.. William
Temple, who publicly requested
prayers for the enemy at his en-
thronement in that same cathedral
only few weeks before the raid, and
who had even more recently pro-
tested in convocation against the
gloating over German civilian suf-
fering INDUCED in by small section
Of the British press.
And there is this significant diff
ference: Cologne is a large indus
trial city, bristling with military OBJ
jectives; Canterbury is a peaceful
English town, rich in history and
quantity beautiful, with no SEM
blance of war industry Of military
activity other than the normal de-
fense precautions essential for a
community only 40 miles from the
enemy lines.
l visited Canterbury just after its
great bLtz, while some of the fires
from incendiaries were still smould-
ering. I found the town heavily
damaged, but speedily recovering,
and its people undismayed-though
most of them expected further at
tacks and many spent the nights in
tents or shake-downS in the open
fields of the countryside. Relief of
suffering and distress was remark
ably well organized.
American Equipment Aided.
Il never knew there were so many
nice people and so much good in the
world" said one of the victims.
Among relief units were vehicles OF
the British american Ambulance
Corps and the British War Relief
Society, as well as YMCA and church
army mobile CanteenS. Signs on
many of these indicating they were
the gifts of particular communities
or societies in the United States ale
q visible evidence of Anglo -Ameri-
can friendship
Americans may well be proud that
through the contribution and equip
ment of these vehicles they ere able
to share in first-aid and the pro-
vision of practical comforts to
blitzed communities in England in
the time of their great need.
In the walled precinsts of the
cathedral 270 incendiaries were
dropped-11 on the roof of the cath
edral itself. Several high explosive
shells fell within 100 yards of the
cathedral. One of them destroyed
The valuable cathedral library;
others leveled eight buildings in the
precincts, including three canons'
houses and the Kings School. The
old palace, in which the Archbishop
and Mrs. Temple were in residence,
was uninjured; and when I called
there a few days later found decor
ators continuing their annual clean
ing and redecorating as calmly as if
the war were thousands of miles
away.
Archbishop Wore Tin Hat.
At the height of the Sunday night
blitz, the archbishop appeared in
bathrobe, slippers and tin helmet,