Winston Churchill

Winston S Churchill By Robert Kennedy

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Having alluded to Adolf Hitler on the web site as the “root cause” of World War Two we now introduce the great British War Leader Sir Winston Churchill as one of the finest examples of good being triumphant over evil during 1939-1945.

On 9th January 1946 Churchill boarded the luxury liner Queen Elizabeth for the transatlantic crossing to the USA being feted by the Americans as the centuries most remarkable British Prime Minister. Onboard ship he continued work on his literary masterpieces “ A History of the English- Speaking Peoples”. The energy and commitment from an old age pensioner who had just led his country from possible catastrophe to victory was quite astonishing.

Onboard the liner were several hundred Canadian Troops making their way home via the USA. Many had not seen Canada for 5 long years fighting alongside their gallant Allies in defence of freedom and democracy. They had seen action from Dieppe to North Africa……Italy to Austria …..Normandy D Day Landings to Berlin….and triumphed.

Churchill was asked to address the soldiers while at sea. The opportunity of having the war time Commander-in Chief onboard was too good a chance to be missed. He wrote a speech which was typed by his onboard secretary Miss Sturdee. A copy was given to Commodore Bisset Captain of the Queen Elizabeth who retained it in his personal memoir’s . It was first published in the Daily Express on 21st September 1961. We are indebted to Mr Bisset for making the speech publicly available and are confident the Daily Express will have no objections allowing our Strathallan veterans a glimpse of the thoughts of the famous war time leader who inspired the nation when the horizon was dark and gloomy during 1940 and Dunkirk was a glorious failure.

With Gladys Aikens( former QAMNSR) journeying from Halifax. Nova Scotia .Canada to attend the first ever Strathallan Reunion on 2nd August 2003 at The Maritime Museum Greenwich we dedicate this Churchill Speech to our gallant Canadian war time Allies who stood fast with the free world against the scourge of Nazism. Gladys’s husband crossed the Atlantic in the early days of the war and was seconded to the 8th Army. He saw action at Tobruk and El Alemein in his capacity as Medical Officer. Great Britain stood as a beacon against the Nazi’s in the early war years but without the splendid support of the Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Indian’s and members of the Commonwealth it would have placed its magnificent fight back in jeopardy allowing the Nazi hordes to ride rough shod over freedom loving people .

You Canadians , many of whom served in the Canadian Fifth Division. no doubt have in your mind the victories of Italy and the Rhine,
But we British always think of the days of 1940 when the Canadian Army Corps stood almost alone in Kent and Sussex, and the Germans had 25 divisions ready to leap across the Channel and wipe Great Britain out of life and history.
I think about those days ,too, sometimes and how fine it was to see everyone at home and throughout the Empire, moved by the same impulse. So simple and so sublime— Conquer or Die.

On sojourning to the Maritime Museum on 3rd August for the Strathallan Reunion from Canada Gladys Aikens at the age of nearly 90 once again displays the spirit that ensured the likes of the dictator Adolf Hitler could never succeed in stifling the courage and fortitude of free men and woman.
Evil can only exist when good people keep quiet.
The Gladys Aikens Strathallan Story can be viewed on the web site.
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A Mid- Atlantic address on 12th January 1946 on-board Queen Elizabeth to several hundred assembled Canadian Troops homeward bound from Europe.

Written and orated by Sir Winston Churchill War Time British Prime Minister.
My friends and shipmates in the Queen Elizabeth .
For most of you it is home ward bound . It has been a good voyage in a great ship, with a fine Captain-or indeed Commodore. We have not got there yet , but I am quite sure he will find the way alright.
At any rate, he has been over the track before, and as I can testify myself having been several times with him, in those days there used to be U Boats and things like that.

They all seem to have dropped off and we don’t have to worry about them all now. Something seemed to have happened.
The seas are clear, the Old Flag flies, and those who have done the work or some of it- because the British did some-return home again ,their task accomplished and their duty done.

What a strange, fearful, yet glittering chapter this war has been!
What changes it has wrought throughout the world and in the fortunes of so many families.

What an interruption in all the plans each of us had made.! What a surrender of the liberties we prized! What a casting away of comfort and safety.

What a pride in peril.
What a glory shines on the brave and true
The good cause has not been overthrown. Tyrants have been hurled from their place of power, and those who thought to enslave the future of mankind have paid, or will pay, the final penalty.
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You Canadians , many of whom served in the Canadian Fifth Division. no doubt have in your mind the victories of Italy and the Rhine,
But we British always think of the days of 1940 when the Canadian Army Corps stood almost alone in Kent and Sussex, and the Germans had 25 divisions ready to leap across the Channel and wipe Great Britain out of life and history.
I think about those days ,too, sometimes and how fine it was to see everyone at home and throughout the Empire, moved by the same impulse. So simple and so sublime— Conquer or Die.

Victory in arms ,or in every walk of life is only the opportunity of doing better on a larger scale and at any level..
Do not be anxious about the future! Be vigilant, be strong be clear-sighted, but do not be worried.
Our future is in our hands. Our lives are what we choose to make them. Not some one else.
That is what we fought for. .Democracy and freedom of choice.
Yesterday I was on the bridge, watching the mountainous waves and this ship- which is no pup- cutting through them and mocking their anger.
I asked myself, why is it the ship beats the waves when there is so many and the ship is one.
The reason is the ship has a purpose and the waves none
They just flop around, innumerable, tireless, but ineffective . The ship with a purpose takes us where we want to go..
Let us therefore have purpose, both in our National and Imperial policy and in our private lives.
Thus the future will be fruitful for each and all, and the reward of the warriors will not be unworthy of the deeds they have done.

End of Speech.

The Speech was received with ecstatic applause and cheers from all Troops and Crew
Extract from a book by Martin Gilbert entitled “NEVER DESPAIR” the story of Winston S. Churchill 1945-1965.
The Strathallan Story Web Site team of Robert Kennedy Editor and Les Jones Web Master gives full credit to Martin Gilbert for the article and extends a humble thanks for inclusion .

The article further illustrates a debt the free world owes Winston Churchill who was indeed ………a……. “Man of the Hour”. How could have Hitler ever succeeded against such an adversary.

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