Evening star., 1945-08-02
President Meets Kinq Georqe
Aboard Worship Off Plymouth;
Big 3 Communique Due I onight
Trumun Heads Back
Toward U. S. After
Seeing Monarch
Ey the Associated Press.

Aug. 2.-P + e 81 d n t Truman
talked with King George vi OF
shipboard off the port of Ply
mouth today, and then headed
home aboard the United State
cruiser Augusta.
The King and President met in {
double ceremony, dictated by diplo
matte protocol but dominated b.
British cordiality.
The first President to visit Eng
land since Woodrow Wilson in 1919
Mr.. Truman flew in from Potsdam
boarded the Augusta and then wa!
ferried out to the British battle
cruiser Renown.
welcome to my country. MIR
President" said the King, greeting
him with outstretched hands.
Chat for Two Hours.
The heads of the two great Eng
disappearing nations dined and
chatted for two hours before Mr.
Truman returned to the Augusta
There, within a few minutes, the
King came aboard and returned the
Presidents visit and wished him
Godspeed.
The Augusta, which brought Mr.
Truman to Europe for the Big
Three conference at Potsdam, then
steamed out to sea.
Hundreds of persons gathered at
the docks of this bomb-scarred port
on the chance of seeing the Presi-
dent on his arrival by plane from
Potsdam, but a last-minute change
of landing plans robbed them of the
opportunity. Because of flying con-
ditionS, President Truman and his
party landed at an Raj field about
8 miles north of Plymouth at 9:4C
am. (4:40 am, EWT. They hao
been scheduled to land at field 4C
miles to the west.
United States Army automobiles
waiting at the latter field scurrieo
to the Harrowbeer Airdrome, where
the Presidents plane landed.
Mr.. Truman inspected some of the
bomb damage at the port, then went
to the United States naval base and
embarked on a barge for the Au-
gusta. He missed the Lord Mayor
of Plymouth and other officials
waiting for him at the dock.
The King had arrived in Plymouth
by special royal train at 1890 am
and was welcomed by the Lord
Mayor. He went aboard the Re-
nown IS minutes later.
The meeting with Mr.. Truman
came at 12:40 pm.
Motorists Wait to See President.
Along Mr.. Truman's route from
the picturesque village of Yelverton,
near the airdrome where he landed,
many motorists waited in their cars
to see the President speed by. At
one point an elderly man held up a
board on which he had chalked:
Good Luck, Mr.. President
While Mr.. Truman was going by
Plymouth on the barge, headed for
the Augusta, he was afforded an
excellent view of the port, includ-
ing the historic Mayflower steps
where the Pilgrims boarded the
Mayfower for their trip to America.
Mr.. Truman, with Secretary of
State Byrnes and Admiral William
D. Leahy, the Presidents chief of
staff, boarded the Renown from a
bright green barge flying the presi-
Dental flag.
King George waited at the rail
with the Earl of Halifax, British
Ambassador to the United States,
and officers of the battle cruiser.
The Presidents party was piped
aboard
Mr.. Truman stood hatless at at
tention at the top of the ladder
while Royal Marines played The
Star Spangled Banner"
Chat on Quarterback.
He and the King chatted on the
quarterback and then the President
inspected the guard of honor. After
Mr.. Truman introduced members of
his party to the King, he and the
monarch went into the admiral's
quarters and chatted privately for
20 minutes before luncheon.
King George was welcomed to
Plymouth by Alderman j. P. Mason,
who succeeded Lord Astor as Mayor
Of this port.
The Mayor told correspondents,
before missing Mr.. Truman because
of the shift in plans, he would
be proud to welcome President
Truman here because it will be new
link in the long association between
Plymouth and the United States,
cemented by the departure from this
port of the Pilgrim fathers"
King George was escorted from
his train by two British tars and
an admiral. The monarch wore the
uniform of an admiral of the fleet.
AS the Kings launch sped out to
the Renown white-winged gulls
STirled between the blue sky and
equally blue water.
Tars Stand at Attention.
British tars stood stif11y at at
lS1lGAOlI, llllAlS U1lC OCChS O1 Ull6
two destroyer escorts tied up at the
nearby dock.
Across the way were the shells
of the warehouses of Trinity pier
bombed in the spring of 1941, only
two hours after King George paid
his last visit to Plymouth on the
first night Of the blitz which hit
this port.
That blitz cost Plymouth the lives
of 1,172 of its citizens. More than
1,100 were seriously injured, 5000
of its homes were destroyed and
more than 10000 others badly DAM
aged. The shopping district was
virtually wiped out.
The public was unable to see
the King inside the docks because
Of security precautions, but many
naval personnel stood on the roofs
of dockside buildings to watch
him embark for the Renown.
The King looked well and fit as
he stepped aboard the Renown.
Sir additional men from