Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-06-18
20 Bands PLAY
During Parade
ToCapito| Hill
Truman Gives Third
DSM to General
At White House

AGA1 VI LlOcNf1o"E Lit speech 10
joint session of Congress.
Page AS
FULL PAGE of pictures of citys
welcome to Eisenhower. Page Al
Cheers echoed from the Lin
coin Memorial to the Capitol
today as Washington gave
heros welcome to the supreme
Allied commander in Europe
who led the greatest Allied Army
OF all time to victory.
From the moment he stepped out
of his giant transport at ll:O8 am.
until he faced joint session of
Congress at 1925 pm Gen. Essen
hover heard the continual cry OF
Ike. Ike, Ike'-the friendly shout
from the people who have taken the
flve-star general to their hearts.
There were formal greetings
from Gen. George C. Marshall.
Army chief of staff. at the Air
Transport Command Terminal, from
Secretary of War Stimson at the
'Pentagon, from the Commissioners
in front of the District Building.
Great Welcome From People.
But it was the people of WASH
ington who gave Ike" his real well
come. His progress along the pa
rade route in the vanguard of l8
Army cars filled with returning vet
Grams was one long cheer. Twenty
military and civilian bands played
their loudest as the cavalcade moved
along.
AS the crowd spotted the slow
moving line Of cars, they began to
shout. The shout swelled in VOL
ume when they saw the standing
figure in the first. car Paper fut-
tered down from Office buildings as
the people-Government workers,
housewives. store clerks school chill
dren-hailed their conquering hero.
Everywhere Gen. Eisenhower
looked he could see the faces of
the people who had waited for
hours in the sun for just a mo-
ment view of him
! Standing in the front row on Con-
stitution tvenue was a fve-year-old
girl dressed all in white with a big
white bow tied to each pigtail. She
was waving small service flag with
gold star in the center.
The flag is for my daddy. He was
with Gen. Ike, but he got killed
the little girl explained. Then she
held the flag high. as though at at
tention
President Humans part in the
city-Wide reception for the return
ing hero came later. At 2::30 pm.
Mr., Truman presented Gen. Eisen-
hover with his third Distinguished
Service Medal at the White House
for exceptionally meritorious serv-
ice to the Government in a duty of
great responsibility.
Families Wait at Runway.
Long before the giant transports
and their escort of 100 fighter planes
were spotted, the families of some
of the 81 officers and enlisted men
who flew home with Gen Eisen-
hover were waiting excitedly under
beating sun of the runway at the
Air Transport Command Terminal.
In the naval contingent were Mrs.
Alan G. Kirk, wife of Vice Admiral
Kirk. naval commander at SHAEF;
his daughters, Ensign Deborah Kirk
of the WAVES. and Mrs. John APP
pei. and his l4-year-old son Roger.
! The boy was the most excited Of
all. He kept searching the dazzling
sky in the apparent hope that the
plane would arrive sooner than eX-
pected. Roger said he might go in
the Navy himself when he grew up
he wasn't quite sure.
This is a day Americas been
waiting for long time, said Mrs.
Kirk.
Also with the naval relatives was
Mrs. George Harrison. mother of 1t.
James Gordon Grayson. 1t. Gray
son, on Admiral Kinks staff, is a
native of Washington and a son Of
The late Rear Admiral Cary T. Gray
son, former chairman of the Ameri-
can Red Gross and physician to
Woodrow Wilson.
Mrs. Richard T. Cragg, wife of 1t.
Comdr. Cragg, was another who
waited to welcome the naval group.
Sky Filled With Planes.
About three minutes after II the
sky to the east of the airport began
filling suddenly with planes The
Army Band and the official well
corners were crowded behind the
ramps from which Gen. Eisenhower
was to alight.
The escort planes circled the field
in seeming laziness in little clouds,
high above the glittering runways.
They returned much slower, roaring
over the administration buildings.
A single huge silver ship struck out
ahead of the rest and zoomed over