thedrifter
12-18-08, 07:32 AM
'A strange Christmas Eve'
Posted 1 hour ago
On Christmas Eve, 1941, the world was shrouded in darkness.
The war was not going well. America was still in shock after the events of Sunday, Dec. 7 -what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called a "day of infamy." Japanese torpedo bombers raided Pearl Harbour. Over 2,400 sailors, soldiers and airmen were dead. Those forces now encircled besieged British and Canadian troops at Hong Kong. They had also invaded the Philippines.
Off the coast of Malaya, Japanese planes sunk the famed British battleship Prince of Wales. In the deserts of North Africa, Gen. Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps had scored key victories against the Allies. The German Wehrmacht was closing on the outskirts of Moscow. If Hitler won in Russia, most of the world would be under Nazi tyranny. In this darkest hour, one Winston Spencer Churchill slipped through the deadly U-boat screen and crossed the North Atlantic.
Shrouded in secrecy, the British prime minister left Scotland aboard the battleship HMS Duke of York on Dec. 13, 1941. His entourage of 38 officials included military chiefs of staffs, private secretaries and members of cabinet. One of them was his Canadian-born minister of aircraft production, Lord Beaverbrook. In the evening, Churchill watched westerns and war movies, such as "Santa Fe Trail" starring Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan and "The Fighting 69th" with James Cagney. He occasionally wandered to the radio room to receive updates on British, Canadian and Indian troop movements around Hong Kong.
This was Churchill's second voyage to the new world in as many months. That August, he had met with President Roosevelt off the coast of Argentia, Newfoundland to sign the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration that was the framework for the post-war world and set the stage for the creation of the United Nations. America was still neutral. Now, the United States was a powerful ally. Churchill and Roosevelt would spend the holidays charting a strategy for defeating the Axis powers of Germany, Japan and Italy.
Like their fellow citizens, the new war had a drastic effect on Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Their four sons all had enlisted in the services -Elliott in the army air force, James in the Marines and John and Franklin Jr. in the Navy. Prior to that, Abraham
Lincoln's son, Robert Todd, had been the only son of a president to go into combat. It was going to be a lonely
Christmas at the White House.
However, the first family was buoyed by the impending
arrival of their holiday guest. Few world leaders were informed of Churchill's visit ahead of time. Roosevelt did make a quick phone call to Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King inviting him to come to Washington. King had also extended an invitation to Churchill to come to Ottawa and address Parliament.
The Duke of York docked at the Hampton Roads naval yards in Virginia on Dec. 22. Roosevelt was personally on hand to receive the British entourage when their plane landed at Anacostia Flats Naval Air Station. Eleanor Roosevelt greeted her company when they arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
After the delegation was shown their quarters, she escorted Churchill to the Munroe Room, which was to be his map room modeled on the one he used in his London bunker. Next, she showed him the Lincoln bedroom, but the prime minister felt the bed would not suit him. Much to the First Lady's chagrin, Churchill roamed the second floor, inspecting rooms until he settled on the Rose Bedroom, the same one Queen Elizabeth used in 1939. Churchill proved to be a particular house-guest, demanding his assigned butler serve him sherry before breakfast, scotch and soda at lunch and then 90-year-old brandy before he went to bed.
Churchill was warmly welcomed by the U. S., like a long-lost relative (his mother was American).The White House received many gifts for the PM, including 8,000 cigars and six-foot-tall V-shaped lilies.
"This is a strange Christmas eve," Churchill recorded in his diary on the evening of Dec. 24, noting he was far from home on this most blessed of days. London, at Christmas, was aerial bombings, air raid sirens, blackouts and rationing. Washington had so far escaped all that.
At 4 p. m., the Roosevelts received the household staff as well as Crown Prince Olaf and Crown Princess Martha of Norway in the East Room. Each employee received an autographed photograph of President and Mrs. Roosevelt. Thereafter, the presidential party moved out onto the South Portico. It was time for the lighting of the National Community Christmas Tree.
Some 15,000 Washingtonians had crowded the streets surrounding the White House for the ceremony. The tradition began with Calvin Coolidge in 1923. Roosevelt pushed a button which sparked the tree into a blaze of colourful lights. The Marine Band struck up "God Save the King" and "The Star-Spangled Banner."
The president then spoke, proclaiming that Jan. 1, 1942 be a national day of prayer. He asked the nation for "particular thoughtfulness of those, our sons and brothers, who serve in our armed forces on land and sea, near and far, those who serve us and endure for us."
He then introduced Churchill, calling him an associate and good friend. The great orator looked down at the microphone and uttered these words:"Whether it be the ties of blood on my mother's side, or the friendships I have developed here over many years of active life, or the commanding sentiment of comradeship in the common cause of great peoples who speak the same language, who kneel at the same altars and, to a very large extent, pursue the same ideals, I cannot feel myself a stranger here in the centre and at the summit of the United States."
Describing it as "an evening of happiness in a world of storm," he told the American people to prepare themselves for the sacrifice they must bear in the coming war years, but he also noted their children would not be "robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world."
"Let the children have their night of fun and laughter," Churchill concluded. "Let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play."
It was dark when the party moved back into the White House for tea, toast and cakes. Churchill, Roosevelt, Navy Secretary Frank Knox, Admiral Pound, and Colonel Hollis excused themselves to receive an update on the fall of Hong Kong and Japanese movements on the Phillippines. The Christmas Eve party in the Red Room was an occasion to forget about the war, if only for a few hours. Puffing away at a cigar, Churchill delighted in teasing FDR, playfully accusing him of hoarding the brandy. He chastised Roosevelt for sending Britain "too many powdered eggs," which were good only for making Spotted Dick.
On Christmas Day, Churchill was hosted at an interfaith service at the Foundry Methodist Church (built ironically as a favour to the British when they invaded Washington during the War of 1812). Special altar flowers were laid to honour the memory of the president's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, who had recently passed away. Rev. F. B. Harris asked the congregation to extend special prayers to Churchill and his people.
For his part, Churchill was amused as he sang carols he was unfamiliar with. One of them was "O' Little Town of Bethlehem." Later in the week, FDR would escort Churchill to Mount Vernon to visit the resting place of George Washington.The war would rage for another four years, but Winston Churchill, once that lone voice in the wilderness, felt comforted among his new friends. Laying his head down for the night, he sensed a change in this tide of darkness.
"It's the first time my mind has been at rest for a long time," Churchill wrote.
Before signing off, may our thoughts and prayers this Christmas be with the men and women of Task Force 3-08. Like Churchill, this will be a strange Christmas for them -thousands of miles from home and family. God keep and protect our soldiers in Afghanistan, and bring them back safely in the New Year.
Ellie
Posted 1 hour ago
On Christmas Eve, 1941, the world was shrouded in darkness.
The war was not going well. America was still in shock after the events of Sunday, Dec. 7 -what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called a "day of infamy." Japanese torpedo bombers raided Pearl Harbour. Over 2,400 sailors, soldiers and airmen were dead. Those forces now encircled besieged British and Canadian troops at Hong Kong. They had also invaded the Philippines.
Off the coast of Malaya, Japanese planes sunk the famed British battleship Prince of Wales. In the deserts of North Africa, Gen. Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps had scored key victories against the Allies. The German Wehrmacht was closing on the outskirts of Moscow. If Hitler won in Russia, most of the world would be under Nazi tyranny. In this darkest hour, one Winston Spencer Churchill slipped through the deadly U-boat screen and crossed the North Atlantic.
Shrouded in secrecy, the British prime minister left Scotland aboard the battleship HMS Duke of York on Dec. 13, 1941. His entourage of 38 officials included military chiefs of staffs, private secretaries and members of cabinet. One of them was his Canadian-born minister of aircraft production, Lord Beaverbrook. In the evening, Churchill watched westerns and war movies, such as "Santa Fe Trail" starring Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan and "The Fighting 69th" with James Cagney. He occasionally wandered to the radio room to receive updates on British, Canadian and Indian troop movements around Hong Kong.
This was Churchill's second voyage to the new world in as many months. That August, he had met with President Roosevelt off the coast of Argentia, Newfoundland to sign the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration that was the framework for the post-war world and set the stage for the creation of the United Nations. America was still neutral. Now, the United States was a powerful ally. Churchill and Roosevelt would spend the holidays charting a strategy for defeating the Axis powers of Germany, Japan and Italy.
Like their fellow citizens, the new war had a drastic effect on Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Their four sons all had enlisted in the services -Elliott in the army air force, James in the Marines and John and Franklin Jr. in the Navy. Prior to that, Abraham
Lincoln's son, Robert Todd, had been the only son of a president to go into combat. It was going to be a lonely
Christmas at the White House.
However, the first family was buoyed by the impending
arrival of their holiday guest. Few world leaders were informed of Churchill's visit ahead of time. Roosevelt did make a quick phone call to Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King inviting him to come to Washington. King had also extended an invitation to Churchill to come to Ottawa and address Parliament.
The Duke of York docked at the Hampton Roads naval yards in Virginia on Dec. 22. Roosevelt was personally on hand to receive the British entourage when their plane landed at Anacostia Flats Naval Air Station. Eleanor Roosevelt greeted her company when they arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
After the delegation was shown their quarters, she escorted Churchill to the Munroe Room, which was to be his map room modeled on the one he used in his London bunker. Next, she showed him the Lincoln bedroom, but the prime minister felt the bed would not suit him. Much to the First Lady's chagrin, Churchill roamed the second floor, inspecting rooms until he settled on the Rose Bedroom, the same one Queen Elizabeth used in 1939. Churchill proved to be a particular house-guest, demanding his assigned butler serve him sherry before breakfast, scotch and soda at lunch and then 90-year-old brandy before he went to bed.
Churchill was warmly welcomed by the U. S., like a long-lost relative (his mother was American).The White House received many gifts for the PM, including 8,000 cigars and six-foot-tall V-shaped lilies.
"This is a strange Christmas eve," Churchill recorded in his diary on the evening of Dec. 24, noting he was far from home on this most blessed of days. London, at Christmas, was aerial bombings, air raid sirens, blackouts and rationing. Washington had so far escaped all that.
At 4 p. m., the Roosevelts received the household staff as well as Crown Prince Olaf and Crown Princess Martha of Norway in the East Room. Each employee received an autographed photograph of President and Mrs. Roosevelt. Thereafter, the presidential party moved out onto the South Portico. It was time for the lighting of the National Community Christmas Tree.
Some 15,000 Washingtonians had crowded the streets surrounding the White House for the ceremony. The tradition began with Calvin Coolidge in 1923. Roosevelt pushed a button which sparked the tree into a blaze of colourful lights. The Marine Band struck up "God Save the King" and "The Star-Spangled Banner."
The president then spoke, proclaiming that Jan. 1, 1942 be a national day of prayer. He asked the nation for "particular thoughtfulness of those, our sons and brothers, who serve in our armed forces on land and sea, near and far, those who serve us and endure for us."
He then introduced Churchill, calling him an associate and good friend. The great orator looked down at the microphone and uttered these words:"Whether it be the ties of blood on my mother's side, or the friendships I have developed here over many years of active life, or the commanding sentiment of comradeship in the common cause of great peoples who speak the same language, who kneel at the same altars and, to a very large extent, pursue the same ideals, I cannot feel myself a stranger here in the centre and at the summit of the United States."
Describing it as "an evening of happiness in a world of storm," he told the American people to prepare themselves for the sacrifice they must bear in the coming war years, but he also noted their children would not be "robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world."
"Let the children have their night of fun and laughter," Churchill concluded. "Let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play."
It was dark when the party moved back into the White House for tea, toast and cakes. Churchill, Roosevelt, Navy Secretary Frank Knox, Admiral Pound, and Colonel Hollis excused themselves to receive an update on the fall of Hong Kong and Japanese movements on the Phillippines. The Christmas Eve party in the Red Room was an occasion to forget about the war, if only for a few hours. Puffing away at a cigar, Churchill delighted in teasing FDR, playfully accusing him of hoarding the brandy. He chastised Roosevelt for sending Britain "too many powdered eggs," which were good only for making Spotted Dick.
On Christmas Day, Churchill was hosted at an interfaith service at the Foundry Methodist Church (built ironically as a favour to the British when they invaded Washington during the War of 1812). Special altar flowers were laid to honour the memory of the president's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, who had recently passed away. Rev. F. B. Harris asked the congregation to extend special prayers to Churchill and his people.
For his part, Churchill was amused as he sang carols he was unfamiliar with. One of them was "O' Little Town of Bethlehem." Later in the week, FDR would escort Churchill to Mount Vernon to visit the resting place of George Washington.The war would rage for another four years, but Winston Churchill, once that lone voice in the wilderness, felt comforted among his new friends. Laying his head down for the night, he sensed a change in this tide of darkness.
"It's the first time my mind has been at rest for a long time," Churchill wrote.
Before signing off, may our thoughts and prayers this Christmas be with the men and women of Task Force 3-08. Like Churchill, this will be a strange Christmas for them -thousands of miles from home and family. God keep and protect our soldiers in Afghanistan, and bring them back safely in the New Year.
Ellie