GREAT DELIVERANCE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 135, 9 May 1945, Page 5

GREAT DELIVERANCE

CALL FOR THANKSGIVING. BROADCAST BY THE KING. (Rec. 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY, May S. "Today we give thanks to God for this great deliverance," the King said in his broadcast to the Empire from Buckingham Palace today. "Speaking from our Empire's oldest capital city, war battered but never for * one moment daunted or dismayed speaking from London. I say to you: Join with me in that act ol' thanksgiving. Germany, who drove all Europe into war, has been finally overcome. In, the Far East we have yet to deal with | Japan, a determined and cruel foe. To this we shall turn with the utmost resolve and with all our resources. But at this hour when the dreadful shadow of war has passed far from our hearths and homes in these islands, we may at last make one pause for thanksgiving, and then we rmist turn our thoughts to the tasks all over the world which the peace in Europe brings with it. ' "First le us remember those who will not come hack—their constancy and courage in battle, their sacrifice and endurance in the face of a merciless enemy. Let us remember the men in all the Services and the women in all the Srevices who have laid down their lives. We have come to the end of our tribulation and they are not with us at the moment of our rejoicing. "Next let us salute in proud gratitude the great host of living who have brought us to victory. J cannot praise them to the measure of each one's service for, in the total war .effort, al rise to the same noble height and all are devoted to the common purpose. Armed or unarmed, men and women. you have fought, striven and endured to the utmost. None knows that better than I and, as your King, I thank, with a full heart those who have borne arms so valiantly on land, on the sea or in the air and all the civilians who. shouldering their many burdens have carried them unfhnchinglv and without complaint. "With those memories in our minds, let us- think what it is that has upheld us through nearly six years of suffering and peril when everything was at stake—our freedom, our independence and our very existence as a people. Tn defending ourselves we were defending the liberties ol the whole world ; our, cause was the cause not of this nation only, not of the Empire and the. Commonwealth only, but of. every land where freedom » cherished and law and liberty go bond in hand.

EL ROPE'S CONFIDENCE. "In the darkest hour we knew that the enslaved and isolated peoples ot Europe looked to us : Their hopes were rVc-T^weX^tharif hrmed ou, taitn 11 ffier agSnstworld-wide tyranny wild have fallen in ruins. But we

did not falter and we did not fail. We kept faith with ourselves and with one another. We. kept faith and unity withour great Allies. That faith and that unity have carried us to victory through "dangers which at the time seemed overwhelming. "So let us resolve to bring to the tasks wnich lie anoadthe same high confidence in our mission Much hard work awaits us, both in the restoration of our own country after the ravages of the war and in helping to restore peace and sanity to the shattered world. This conies upon us at a time when we have all given of our best. For five long years and more, heart and brain, nerve and muscle have been directed upon the overthrow of Nazi tyranny. Now we turn, fortified by our success, to deal with our last remaining foe. "The Queen and I know the ordeals voii have endured throughout the Commonwealth and Empire. We are proud to have shared some of them with you and we know also that we shall all face the future together with st<nm resolve and will prove that our reserves of willpower and' vitality are inexhaustible. . "There is great comfort in vne thought that the years of darkness and d-mo-cr in which the children of our countrv have grown up are, please God, over for ever. TO LASTING PEACE. "We shall have failed and the blood of our dearest will have flowed in vain if the victory which they died to win does not lead to lasting peace founded on justice and established in goodwill.

"To that then, let us turn our thoughts on this day of just triumph and proud sorrow, and then take up our work again, resolved as a people to do nothing unworthy of those who died for us and to make the world such a world as they would have desired for their children and for ours. This is the task to which honour now binds us.

"In the hour of danger we humbly committed our cause into the hands of God and He has been our strength and shield. Let us thank Him for His mercies and, in this hour of victory, commit ourselves and our new tasks to the <ruidancc of the same Strong Hand. --Official Wireless. .

The King heard the news of Gcrmanv's unconditional surrender from h : s private secretary (Sir Alan Lascelles) in his study at Buckingham Palace where during the war he spent manv hours reading official dispatches, good" news and bad. His Majesty personally told the Queen and Princess Elizabeth' that the war had ended.