Trinity College School - Record Yearbook (Port Hope, Ontario Canada)

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TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD 15 of this city? When the British Empire stood-alone, but unconquered, almost naked, but unafraid-to defy the Hit- ler hordes, it was on this devoted city that the first ter- roristic blows were launched. Five years and eight months of war, much of it on the actual battle-line! Blitzes, big and little, fly-bombs, V-bombs, all of them you took in your stride. You work- ed-from your needed efforts you would not be deterred. You carried on, and from your midst arose no cry for mercy, no wail of defeat. The Battle of Britain will take its place as another of your deathless traditions. And your faith and endurance have finally been rewarded. You had been more than two years in war when Americans, in numbers, began swarming into your coun- try. Most were mentally unprepared for the realities of war-especially as waged by the Nazis. Others believed that tales of British sacrifice had been exaggerated. Still others failed to recognise the difficulties of the task ahead. All such doubts, questions, and complacencies could not endure a single casual tour through your scarred streets and avenues. With awe our men gazed upon empty spaces where once had stood buildings erected by the toil and sweat of peaceful folk. Our eyes rounded as We saw your women serving quietly and efficiently in almost every kind of war effort, even iiak batteries. We became accus- tomed to the warning sirens, which seemed to compel, from the native Londoner, not a single hurried step. Gradually we drew closer together until we became true partners in the war. In London my associates and I planned two great ex- peditions: that to invade the Mediterranean and later that to cross the Channel. London's hospitality to Americans, her good-humoured acceptance of the added inconveniences we brought, her example of fortitude and quiet confidence in the Hnal outcome-all these helped to make the supreme headquarters of two Allied expeditions the smooth-work- ing organizations they became! They were composed of

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14 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD This feeling of humility cannot erase, of course, my great pride in being tendered the Freedom of London. I am not a native of this land. I come from the very heart of America. In the superficial aspects by which we or- dinarily recognise family relationships, the town where I was born and the one where I was reared are far separated from this great city. Abilene, Kansas, and Denison, Texas, would together add in size to possibly one-five-hundredth part of Greater London. By your standards those towns are young, without your aged traditions that carry the roots of London back into the uncertainties of unrecorded history. To those people I am proud to belong, but I 'rind myself to-day five thousand miles from that countryside, the honoured guest of a city whose name stands for grandeur and size throughout the world. Hardly would it seem possible for the London Council to have gone farther afield to find a man to honour with its priceless gift of token citizenship. Yet kinship among nations is not determined in such measurements as proximity, size, and age. Rather we should turn to those inner things, call them what you will -I mean those intangibles that are the real treasures free men possess. To preserve his freedom of worship, his equality before the law, his liberty to speak and act as he sees fit, subject only to the provision that he trespass not upon similar rights of others-the Londoner will fight! So will the citizen of Abilene! When we consider these things, then the valley of the Thames draws closer to the farms of Kansas and the plains of Texas. To my mind it is clear, that when two peoples will face the tragedies of war to defend the same spiritual values, the same treasured rights, then, in deepest sense, those two are truly related. So, even as I proclaim my undying Americanism, I am bold enough and exceedingly proud to claim basic kinship to you of London. And what man who has followed the history of this war could fail to experience inspiration from the example

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16 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD chosen representatives of two proud and independent peo- ples, each noted for its initiative and for its satisfaction with its own customs, manners, and methods. Many fear- ed that those representatives could never combine together in eilicient fashion to solve the complex problems presented by modern war. I hope you believe we proved the doubters wrong! Moreover, I hold that we proved this point not only for war, we proved that it can always be done by our two peoples, provided only both show the same good Will, the same forbearance, the same objective attitude that British and Americans so amply demonstrated in nearly three years of bitter campaigning. No one can could, alone, have brought about this re- sult. Had I possessed the military skill of a Marlborough, the wisdom of Solomon, the understanding of Lincoln, I still would have been helpless without the loyalty, the vision, the generosity of thousands upon thousands of Bri- tish and Americans. Some of them were my companions in the High Command, many were enlisted men and junior officers carrying the fierce brunt of the battle, and many others were back in the U.S. and here in Great Britain, in London. Moreover, back of us were always our great national war leaders and their civil and military staffs that supported and encouraged us through every trial, every test. The whole was one great team. I know that on this special occasion, the three million American men and Wo- men serving in the Allied Expeditionary Force would want me to pay the tribute of admiration, respect and affection to their British comrades of this war. My most cherished hope is that after Japan joins the Nazi in utter defeat, neither my country nor yours need ever again summon its sons and daughters from their peaceful pursuits to face the tragedies of battle. But-a fact important for both of us to remember-neither Lon- don nor Abilene, sisters under the skin, will sell her birth- right for physical safety, her liberty for mere existence.