Stornoway Gazette, 2 May 1941
Mr A. M. Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty, last week unveiled a memorial in High Wycombe Parish Church to the late Captain E. C. Kennedy, commander of the auxiliary cruiser "Rawalpindi" which was sunk by the German pocket battleship "Deutschland".
Captain Kennedy's crew included twelve Lewis naval reservists, of whom eight lost their lives and four were taken prisoner.
Mr Alexander said they had met to honour the memory of a very brave man. The war in which we were engaged was a struggle for freedom, freedom of action, conscience and religious liberty, and called forth more great courage and endurance than any other war in our history.
During the last 18 months, out of the sufferings and misery brought about by a lust for power, had come forth the noblest qualities of endurance, and, with the resistance of the civil population under ruthless air attack, arose a new experience the like of which they had never seen in the last war. The courage and determination of Captain Kennedy was part of the great traditions of our naval power. The action would live long in the annals of our naval history.
Mr Winston Churchill, who was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time of the engagement, took a great interest in the first great sea action of the war and asked Mr Alexander to convey his good wishes and regrets to those who mourned.
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