King George visits beachhead
London, England (AP) –
King George VI visited the Normandy beachhead yesterday, his trip marking the first time in four centuries that a reigning sovereign of England had set foot on Norman soil to visit his armies fighting there.
King George crossed the Channel on the cruiser HMS Arethusa and landed from an amphibious “duck,” Louis Wulff, Reuters correspondent representing the combined Allied press, said in a dispatch from the warship.
Before he returned safely to an English south coast naval port, the monarch lunched with Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery at advanced headquarters and made Maj. Gen. R. F. L. Keller, a commander of the British Empire. Keller, from Kelowna, British Columbia, is in command of the 3rd Canadian Division.