To An Ally

U. S. AT WAR

THE PRESIDENCY

The big White House phaeton coasted down a ramp to Washington's Navy Yard wharf. The top was down, the bulletproof glass windows up. On the back seat were Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in white linen suit and a Panama hat, Eleanor Roosevelt in white, and handsome, sad-eyed Crown Princess Martha of Norway, in mourning for her cousin-by-marriage, the late Duke of Kent, her severe black dress and hat relieved only by a double strand of gleaming pearls.

From his car Franklin Roosevelt, with a sailor's appreciative eye, took in the trim new subchaser PC-467, snugged tidily to the wharf, her brightwork glistening in the hot September sun. Radio technicians placed a battery of microphones across his lap. Said the President of the U.S. to the Crown Princess of Norway and the people of the world:

"If there is anyone who still wonders why this war is being fought, let him look to Norway. If there is anyone who has any delusions that this war could have been averted, let him look to Norway. And if there is anyone who doubts the democratic will to win, again I say, let him look to Norway.

"The story of Norway since the conquest shows that while a free democracy may be slow to realize its danger, it can be heroic when aroused. At home, the Norwegian people have silently resisted the invaders' will with grim determination. Abroad, Norwegian ships and Norwegian men have rallied to the cause of the United Nations. . . .

"Your Royal Highness, as a token of the admiration and friendship of the American people toward your country and her Navy, I ask you to receive this ship. . . . May this ship long keep the seas in the battle for liberty. May the day come when she will carry the Norwegian flag into a home port in a free Norway!"

Not even a steady stream of trainers and bombers, roaring close overhead from nearby military fields, could drown out the somber, determined ring of freedom-loving, sea-loving Franklin Roosevelt's hearty voice. There were tears in the Crown Princess' eyes, and a quaver in her voice, as she accepted the gift.

The stars & stripes fluttered down from the stern of the PC-467; the U.S. crew marched briskly off. To their places stepped a new crew of Norwegians in neat, blue-trimmed white uniforms. The Navy band struck up the Norwegian national anthem, Ja, Vi Elsker Dette Landet (Yes, We Love This Land of Ours). Sailors hoisted the blue cross of Norway, pulled a bunting from the ship's new name board: King Haakon VII.

Back up the ramp went the President's automobile. Aboard the King Haakon VII the little crew of freemen prepared for a shakedown cruise down the muddy Potomac River, for the hazardous stalking of U-boats in the North Atlantic, for the faraway hope of riding proudly into home port.

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