KING THANKS HIS PEOPLE

Southland Times, Issue 25668, 10 May 1945, Page 5

KING THANKS HIS PEOPLE

EMPIRE’S NOBLE WAR EFFORT DEFENCE OF WORLD LIBERTY (8.0.W.) RUGBY, May 8. “Today we give thanks to God for our great deliverance/’ his Majesty the King said hi a broadcast to the Empire front Buckingham Palace today. “Speaking from our Empire’s oldest capital city, a city the war has altered but never for one moment daunted or dismayed —speaking from London, I ask you to join with me in that act of thanksgiving. “Germany, who drove all Europe into war, has been finally overcome. In the Far East, we have yet to deal with the Japanese, 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 of thanksgiving and then we must turn our thoughts to the tasks all over the world which peace in Europe brings with it. “First, let us remember - those who will not come back—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 services 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. DEVOTION TO DUTY

“Next, let us salute in proud gratitude the great host of living who have brought us to victory. I cannot praise them to the measure of each one’s service, for in a total war effort all 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 you with a full heart. Those who bore arms so valiantly on land and sea or in the air, and all civilians who are shouldering their many burdens, have carried them unflinchingly and without complaint. “With those memories in our minds, let us think of what it was that has upheld us through nearly six years of suffering and peril. It was not only the knowledge that everything was at stake, oui - freedom, our independence, our very existence as a people, but also the .knowledge that in defending ourselves we were defending the liberties of the whole world, that our cause was tire cause not of this nation only, not of this Empire and Commonwealth only, but of every land where freedom is cherished and law and liberty go hand in hand. “In our darkest hour we knew that the enslaved and isolated peoples of Europe looked to us. Their hopes were our hopes; their confidence confirmed our faith. We knew that if we failed or faltered the last remaining barrier against world-wide tyranny would 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 with our great Allies. HARD WORK AHEAD “That faith, that unity have carried us to victory through dangers which, at the time, seemed overwhelming. So let us resolve to bring to the tasks which lie ahead the same high confidence in our mission. Much hard work awaits us, both in the restoration of our own country after the ravages of war and in helping to restore peace and sanity to the shattered world. This comes 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 success, to deal with our last remaining foe. “The Queen and I know the ordeals you endured throughout the Commonwealth and the 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 stern resolve, and prove that our reserves of will power and vitality are inexhaustible.

“There is great comfort in the thought that the years of darkness and danger in which the children of our country have grown up are, please God, over for ever. 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 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 our 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 guidance of the same strong hand.”