864.413 Bandholtz/21
The Chargé in Hungary (Stewart) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 8.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s telegram No. 18 of August 12, 5 p.m.,11 and to previous correspondence concerning the unveiling of a statue in Budapest to the late General Harry Hill Bandholtz, and to inform the Department that, accompanied by Mrs. Stewart and Secretary of Legation Garret G. Ackerson, Jr., I attended the unveiling ceremony which took place in Szabadság tér at 11:00 a.m., August 23rd.
[A description of a part of the dedication ceremony and addresses is here omitted.]
I then deposited a wreath and made the following remarks:
“I deem it a great honor to place a wreath before this statue—a generous tribute from the Hungarian people to a fellow-countryman of mine.
“General Bandholtz was a brave soldier and had an honorable record throughout his long career. As a young man be graduated from the United States Military Academy, and a few years later took a leading part in the Philippine Insurrection campaign, first as a soldier and later as an administrator.
“After serving with distinction in the World War, General Bandholtz came to this country in 1919 and remained to become a cherished friend of the Hungarian people.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The ceremony was most impressive and dignified and was witnessed by fully 2000 people. The Hungarian and American national anthems were played at the beginning of the ceremony, which ended with the playing of another Hungarian national hymn.
Facing the back of the bronze statue one sees the names of those who contributed to the cost of the statue carved in the stone base, and on the front of the base there is carved:
“I simply carried out the instructions of my Government as I understood them as an officer and gentleman of the United States Army.
Harry Hill Bandholtz”
This sentence is a quotation from a letter which General Bandholtz wrote to a Hungarian-American in New York.
Many photographs taken at the ceremony have been published in the illustrated supplements of the local press, and long articles have been written regarding General Bandholtz all expressing praise and gratitude.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩