“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
— Winston Churchill
Dateline June 1940, European Theater. The German army has routed the armies of France, Belgium, and Britain. Over a half million men are surrounded, trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk. It is a dark time; Hitler struts triumphantly on the world stage. Only the tottering British Empire remains to oppose him, and the core of her Army faces annihilation.
In London, the newly elected Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, prepares to address Parliament. Many already believe that Britain has no recourse but to sue for peace. Churchill refuses to countenance such a thing, and thus begins an epic tale of Victory snatched from the jaws of Defeat.
The man in charge of the survival of the empire is an unlikely candidate. His life has been a litany of failures.
He fails sixth grade, taking the math exam three times before passing.
He is rejected by Oxford and Cambridge due to poor grades.
Twice he fails the Royal Military College entrance exam. Yet, he perseveres, and is finally admitted.
In the Army, Churchill achieves some success and becomes Lord of the Admiralty in 1911. Then comes WWI, during which Churchill plans the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. Taking the full blame, he is demoted for his failure. Most consider him finished. However, after a brief tour commanding a regiment in the trenches of France, he returns to England and rebuilds his reputation.
Two decades later, with WWII going badly, Prime Minister Chamberlain resigns (the man famous for the “Peace in our time” quote). Parliment overwhelmingly votes to name Churchill the new Prime Minister.
Short, bowler hat firmly planted on his head, cigar in hand, and defiance written on his face – that is Winston Churchill, forever etched in our memories as the face of war ravaged Britain. A gifted orator, his feisty doggedness rallys his country and charms our own. That, however, will come later. Today, June 4, 1940, he must address Parliment about the Dunkirk catastrophe, a speech that resonates yet today.
When he scheduled the speech, the Army projected that they could save but 30 or 40,000 troops from the beaches. Today he will report that through skill, luck, good providence and numerous acts of individual bravery, nearly 400,000 are saved. Men saved to fight another day, but as Churchill said;
“We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations.” — Winston Churchill
Even still, the Dunkirk rescue becomes a source of pride for a people soon to be sorely tested. His speech will galvanize the nation; his conclusion, a masterpiece of the English language.
“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.” — Winston Churchill
In the end, it is Churchill’s optimism that carries the day. An infectious optimism, as optimism always is.
So today, choose to be optimistic.
David L Dahl.
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