Evening star., 1944-09-12
BY JOSEPH MORTON,

BY JOSEPH MORTON,
Associated Press War Correspondent.
BUCHAREST, Sept. 7 Delayed
-Romania,s new national hero sat
down with a pen and a sheet Of
blue note paper.
II wonder If the world will fealize. u
he wrote, "how difncult 1t was to
win the battle by which Romania
regained her liberty. We had to
fight force far superior In both
number and armament spread all
over the country. But we succeeded
through great sacrifice to attain our
goal. My people have successfully
come through one Of their hardest
trials, thus proving to all that they
know how to fight"
The writer was King Michael, who
re-ascended the throne at the age
of 20. He was appraising the August
coup d'etat which put his country
on the side of the Allies and
brought about the destruction or
capture Of 80 German divisions.
Sends Allies Message.
His simple declaration, he said.
constituted a message he wanted to
send to the people of America and
Great Britain. 1t was handed to
this correspondent after a visit of
some 20 hours at small secluded
villa many miles from the capital
where the King and Queen Mother
Helen were living until the coun-
try1s peace was arranged.
Unaware that the royal family had
left Bucharest, I had asked for an
audience, hoping to be granted Is
minutes.
l was invited. instead, to come to
the country and spend the night.
A German-made Fieseler -Storch
observation plane was placed at my
disposal. Baron Mocsonyi-Styrcea,
spirited young marshal of the court,
accompanied me.
Late In the evening we spotted a
wide, rectangular bonfire. The pilot
steered toward it, landing in field
just on the other side.
An automobile pulled up and 20
year-old Mirce Ionnitiu, the Kings
private secretary and closest friend,
walked over to greet us.
A few minutes ride over a rough,
poorly kept road brought us to a
small village. On the far side we
turned into the driveway of COM
Portable two-story house. AS we
got out a young man in tan water
proof jacket walked toward us lead
ing police dog.
Ionnitiu touched my elbow. The
man was King Michael. Despite
four years of abuse at the hands Of
Marshal Ion Antonescu, dictator
without conscience and sometimes
without decency, King Michael ap-
peared remarkably we'll and fit.
Correspondent Welcomed.
Il am very glad you have come, +"
he said.
Queen Helen received us in the
drawing room She wore a light,
flowered frock-and had a charm
ing smile.
At dinner I, who had come to
interview, found the situation re-
versed. Their majesties were hun
CRY for news. too.
They listened to the BIC twice
day. the Queen said, despite the
Gestapo and Antonescu's secret
police. But the BIC hadn't told
them everything. They wanted to
know lot more.
Both were curious about food
rationing in America, about the
B-29 Super Fortresses, about the
newest American movies-"we miss
them SO very much"-and naturally
about when the war would end
They asked many questions about
the American prisoners evacuated
from Romania-many of whom they
had visited.
I got the impression that doing
things for the flyers who were shot
down over Ploesti had become a
royal project. The prison camp at
Tims, near Brasov, was but a few
minutes drive from their summer
home. the Queen said, and both she
and the King had gone over shortly
after the first airmen arrived.
Antonescu was furious. When it
became known that the King had
shaken hands with them the Ger
man Minister, Baron Manfred Won
Killinger, entered formal protest.
Queen Continued Aid.
For her part the Queen told both
to go jump in the lake. As the
president of the Romanian Red
Cross she said she was only doing
her duty Thereafter she did every
thing possible to make the men in
the camps as comfortable as pos
sible.
Over coffee, Styrcea reported on
events in the capital. He told of
Russian troops, of armistice nego-
tiations and of preparations for war
against Hungary in 1ransylvania.
Both the King and his mother lis
tened carefully, asking many ques-
tions In few cases they solicited
my advice.
Formally Lacking.
I was impressed by the absence of
formality, by the simplicity and
good fellowship in this evening at
home with the royal family.
We retired at midnight, the baron
to a couch in the drawing room and
I to a daybed in the adjacent study.
In his second-f1oor bedroom the
King, before retiring. drafted his
brief declaration to the people of
the United States and Britain.
In the morning Styrsea, who arose
before did, handed me a blue
dressing gown and said, THE King