Adolf Hitler and his top Nazi cohorts rode through the night on the Fuhrer's special train, code named "Amerika." In the pre-dawn hours, the train quietly changed course, heading west to take its passengers to the jumping off point for what would become the German army's stunning blitzkrieg through Belgium, Luxembourg and France.
On this same day, in London, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain went to Buckingham Palace to resign his office. There was some last-minute hesitancy on Chamberlain's part, based on the powerful German offensive in France, but he was persuaded to go ahead with his plans to give up his post. King George VI asked Winston Churchill to form a new British government. Churchill later said: “I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been in preparation for this hour and this trial."
As Americans, we can celebrate this tenth of May as the day when Western Civilization was saved. Churchill knew the stakes. He warned the British people what would happen to America and the world if Hitler won: "If we fail, the whole world, including the United States, and all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister and perhaps more prolonged by the lights of a perverted science."
They did not fail.
Comments (2)
What a good post! You said "we must not fail". We should also remember Churchill's remarks
"Never give up, never give up, never give up!" He also said: One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. It's no use saying, "We are doing our best." You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire... Give us the tools and we will finish the job. (BBC radio broadcast, Feb 9, 1941)
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. (Speech, 1941, Harrow School)
Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.
Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities… because it is the quality which guarantees all others.
Amazing quotes, no? I list them to point out that we as Americans are at such a point in history as were our Founding Fathers. With the likes of onerous bills such as HR-1592 and the upcoming S-1105, our very free speech freedoms are at stake. It matter not whethere you are a Christian or not -- everybody's liberties are at risk.
Guy Adams, Dir., ValuesUSA [.net]
May 15, 2007 11:17 AM | Comment Permalink
What a good post! You said "we must not fail". We should also remember Churchill's remarks
"Never give up, never give up, never give up!" He also said: One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. It's no use saying, "We are doing our best." You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire... Give us the tools and we will finish the job. (BBC radio broadcast, Feb 9, 1941)
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. (Speech, 1941, Harrow School)
Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.
Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities… because it is the quality which guarantees all others.
Amazing quotes, no? I list them to point out that we as Americans are at such a point in history as were our Founding Fathers. With the likes of bills such as HR-1592 and the upcoming S-1105, our very free speech freedoms are at stake. It matter not whethere you are a Christian or not -- everybody's liberties are at risk.
Guy Adams, Dir., ValuesUSA [.net]
May 15, 2007 11:19 AM | Comment Permalink