Posted on 06/09/2018 4:50:06 PM PDT by ebb tide
Many of us know about D-Day through films like “Saving Private Ryan.” But no film has ever told the story of another great battle that took place that day.
June 1944.
A tense and tired world is awaiting word of an Allied invasion of Western Europe, crushed for years under the jackboots of the Nazi war machine.
In the early morning hours of June 6, the news flashes over American radios: The greatest amphibious invasion in history has begun on the beaches of Normandy, France. As paratroopers leap from their planes and landing craft speed toward the coast, another great battle is being waged at home: a prayer battle, imploring God for victory over the dark forces of fascism.
It’s almost impossible to exaggerate the importance of the D-Day invasion. As one historian notes, “Without question, a failed invasion of France would constitute a calamity of incalculable proportions for the Western allies.” Who knows how long it would have taken to organize a second invasion attempt—time that might have allowed a German victory.
So as word of the assault trickled out, Americans began to pray. Stores closed, and prayer services were swiftly organized in small towns and big cities.
Photographs taken on June 6 show just how widespread these prayers were. One picture shows a sign in the window of a novelty button shop reading, “Sorry, no covered buttons today. We are praying for the success of the invasion.” A sign in front of a church reads, “Come in and pray for Allied victory: Hourly intercessions on the hour.” Another photo shows Americans in a synagogue, bowing their heads in prayer. At a noon Mass, we see men and women on their knees, fervently praying.
New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia took to the airwaves, urging citizens to “send forth [their] prayers to Almighty God … to bring total victory … in [this] great and valiant struggle … .”
In Washington, President Roosevelt, who had sons in uniform, urged Americans to join him in prayer for all the nation’s sons: “With Thy blessing,” he prayed, “We shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy.”
And, by heaven, prevail they did. On D-Day, and in the bloody days that followed, allied soldiers brought to vivid life the words of Winston Churchill: “We shall fight in France … We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight on the fields and in the streets …We shall never surrender.”
As President Reagan put it 40 years later, speaking at Normandy to surviving Army Rangers: “These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the heroes who helped end a war.”
Today, I can’t help wondering: How much did the prayers of their loved ones back home have to do with this great victory?
War correspondent Ernie Pyle, who arrived at Normandy on June 7, observed that the Allies achieved victory “with every advantage on the enemy’s side and every disadvantage on ours.” Despite this, he wrote, the total Allied casualties “were remarkably low—only a fraction, in fact, of what our commanders had been prepared to accept.”
“Now that it is all over,” Pyle finished, “it seems to me a pure miracle that we ever took the beach at all.”
Yes, it WAS a miracle—a miracle backed up by millions upon millions of believers assaulting the gates of heaven.
We must never forget what the Allies gallantly sacrificed for the world on D-Day. Today—the 74th anniversary of that invasion—we should set aside time to remember what they did. And then we should pray for the safety of our soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines who are serving across the globe today—men and women fighting and sacrificing for the freedoms we—and others—enjoy.
Eric Metaxas is the host of the “Eric Metaxas Show,” a co-host of “BreakPoint” radio and a New York Times #1 best-selling author. His most recent book is "Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World."
Editor's Note: This piece was originally published by BreakPoint.
Thank you for sharing!
Ernie Pyle’s books are fantastic reading, by the way.
Bump, thanks!
A similar prayer 'assault' occurred during the Presidential election of 2016, and yes, I believe God intervened once again.
Interesting photo. Reasonable amount of diversity going on there between black and white, I would say. Undoubtedly that picture was taken in New York, in the Garment District.
I have seen a short film of Church services aboard HMS Prince of Wales. It was during Churchill and Roosevelt’s meeting in the Atlantic.
Churchill chose the songs. One was “Onward Christian Soldiers” which they are singing in the film. Roosevelt is singing from a hymnal and Churchill appears to have it memorized.
In his 6 Volume “History of WWII”, Churchill mentions that most of those sailors would be dead within a year.
Yes, don’t forget the chaplains!
If you haven’t seen Hacksaw Ridge, you should. Then look up Desmond Doss on the net. Incredible man with a firm belief in God who saved many lives.
Anybody with some spare cash donate to Wounded Warriors.
https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/donate
I could not imagine being a Priest on those beaches.
My mom was working in a war plant making wings for Spitfires in Tarrytown, NY. When the announcement came over the factory
speakers, she told me,all the workers put down their tools and collectively prayed for the men landing on the beaches and broke out with the Star Spangled Banner.
Awesome
My mom was the church pianist ( a fairly large church) and when the word got out that the war was over she was excused from her job and sent to church where she began playing joyous hymns as people poured into church to celebrate, give thanks and worship!
Soon after, my dad returned from overseas.....visited that church....and the rest is history.
BTW that summer of '44 he began work at the Sunoco refinery in Marcus Hook, PA (he commuted by bicycle). An injury on the job prevented him from being drafted until 1946. When he was discharged from the army (spending most of his hitch in Japan) in '48, he returned to Sun in "Hook" and it became his life's work.
ff
Another book by Ernie Pyle was “Here Is Your War: Story of G.I. Joe”, 1945 various editions, The World Publishing Co., Forum Books 111.
It deals a lot with the North African campaigns and is well worth reading.
Ernie was killed by a Japanese sniper, reportedly working on his typewriter. He was targeted, even though he was unarmed.
We must not forget him and all the other war correspondents who were “there”, wherever “there” was, with American troops, sailors, fliers, nurses, and the USO.
The first American soldier I met when I got to Saigon in 1970 was an American Army chaplain. He gave us a ride to the Embassy. Just one of God’s servants helping out however he could. It was appreciated. So were men like Ernie Pyle, some of whom I met while being a short-term journalist in both S. Vietnam and Cambodia.
And there were no atheists amongst them.
Bfl
We made Europe free to clap Tommy Robinson in chains and import and pamper dirty, modernity-loathing, violent Muslims.
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