The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company brings you the sound of war. The actual sound record of World War II, 2,191 days from the time Hitler's Panzer divisions moved across the Polish borders to the ceremony of the Japanese surrender aboard the United States Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. World War II, the most terrible period of death and destruction in the long history of man. World War II, a drama preserved for all time through the medium of radio. An era never to be forgotten. Tonight, the most dramatic voices and sounds of the war. World War II was the first conflict in the history of man to have preserved for all time the sound record of its terrible tragic moments. It is an unequaled record for the course of the war is easily heard in the voices and sounds of the men and women and children who lived and died. And in their voices and words are sadness, hope, and eventual joy that was the transition from frustration and defeat to complete victory. It then is the war as we know it with the people many of whom have long since gone who lived its terrible moments. When the war began, a former first lord of the Admiralty was called back into service. Ships of the Royal Navy wag their signal flags and blink their blinkers with the message that brought joy to the men of the fleet. The message Winnie is back. Winston Churchill was back as first lord of the Admiralty. Now as Germany invaded the low countries this May 10th, 1940 and Nazi panzers crashed across the borders of France in what would be a death blow. Winnie was back again. Winston Churchill had become Prime Minister of Great Britain. I speak to you for the first time as Prime Minister in a solemn hour for the life of our country, of our empire, of our allies, and above all of the cause of freedom. A tremendous battle is raging in France and Flanders. The Germans by a remarkable combination of air bombing and heavily armored tanks have broken through the French defenses north of the Maginot Line and strong columns of their armored vehicles are ravaging the open country which for the first dare to but without defenders. They have penetrated deeply and spread alarm and confusion in their tracks. Behind them there are now appearing infantry in lorries and behind them again the large masses are moving forward. The regroupment of the French armies to make head against and also to strike at this intruding wedge has been proceeding for several days, largely assisted by the magnificent efforts of the Royal Air Force. We must not allow ourselves to be intimidated by the presence of these armored vehicles in unexpected places behind our lines. If they are behind our front, the French are also at many points fighting actively behind their. Both sides are therefore in an extremely dangerous position. And if the French army and our own army are well handled, as I believe they will be, if the French retain that genius for recovery and counter-attack for which they have so long been famous, and if the British army shows the dogged endurance and solid fighting power at which there have been so many examples in the past, then a sudden transformation of the scene there might spring into being. Now it would be foolish, however, to disguise the gravity of the hour. It would be still more foolish to lose heart and courage or to suppose that well-trained, well-equipped armies numbering three or four millions of men can be overcome in the space of a few weeks or even months by a scoop or raid of mechanized vehicles, however fordible. We may look with confidence to the stabilization of the front in France and to the general engagement of the masses, which will enable the qualities of the French and British soldiers to be matched squarely against those of their adversaries. For myself, I have invincible confidence in the French army and its leaders. Only a very small part of that splendid army has yet been heavily engaged, and only a very small part of France has yet been invaded. There is good evidence to show that practically the whole of the specialized and mechanized forces of the enemy have been already thrown into the battle, and we know that very heavy losses have been inflicted upon them. No officer or man, no brigade or division, which grapples at close quarters with the enemy wherever encountered, can fail to make a worthy contribution to the general results. The armies must cast away the idea of resisting attack behind concrete lines or natural obstacles, and must realize that mastery can only be regained by furious and unrelenting assault. And this spirit must not only animate the high command, but must inspire every fighting man. In the air, arson at various odds, arson at odds, hitherto thought overwhelming, we have been ploughing down three or four to one of our enemies, and the relative balance of the British and German air forces is now considerably more favorable to us than at the beginning of the battle. In cutting down the German bombers, we are fighting our own battles, as well as that of France. My confidence in our ability to fight it out to the finish with the German air force has been strengthened by the fierce encounters which have taken place and are taking place. At the same time, our heavy bombers are striking nightly at the catroup of German mechanized power, and have already inflicted serious damage upon the oil refineries on which the Nazi effort to dominate the world directly depends. There will be many men and many women in this island who, when the ordeal comes upon them and come at will, will feel comfort and even a pride that they are sharing the perils of our lads at the front, soldiers, sailors, and airmen, God bless them, and are drawing away for them a part of me of the onslaught they have to bear. Is not this the appointed time for all to make the utmost exertion in their power? Today is Trinity Sunday. A century ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of truth and justice. Arm yourselves and be ye men of valor and be in readiness for the conflict, for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar, and the will of God is in heaven, even so let him do. There was terrible news from France. In less than one month France would be dying and soon dead. A new name would come forward. General Charles de Gaulle. Moi, Général de Gaulle, j'entreprends ici en Angleterre cette tâche nascana. J'invite tous les militaires français des armées de terre, de mer et de l'air. J'invite les ingénieurs et les ouvriers. General de Gaulle is saying, I, General de Gaulle, undertake this national task here in England. I invite all French fighting men in the army, navy and air force. I invite French engineers and French munitions workers who may be in British territory or who can contrive to get there to join me. I invite the leaders, the soldiers, sailors and airmen of the French forces on land, sea and air, wherever they may be at this moment, to get in touch with me. I call upon all Frenchmen who wish to remain free to listen to me and to follow me. Long live France, in freedom, in honor, in independence. And now Great Britain was alone, but its strength and defiance and resolution could be found in a voice. Here is a montage. It is a montage of a voice and words of Winston Churchill in the spring, summer and fall of 1940 when England stood alone and waited for the German attack from across the English Channel. In order to win the war, Hitler must destroy Great Britain. And all the time, masters of the sea and air, the British Empire, nay, in a certain sense, the whole English speaking world will be on its track, bearing with them the swords of justice. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunless upland. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age, made more sinister and perhaps more protracted by the likes of perverted science. And if the Nazi villains drop down upon us from the skies any night in raid or heavy attack upon the key production centers, you will make it clear to them that they have not alighted in the poultry runs or in the rabbit farm or even in the sheepfold, but that they have come down in the lion's den of the zoo. In July, August, and September, 40 or 50 squadrons of the British fighter aircraft in the Battle of Britain broke the teeth of the German air fleet at odds of seven or eight to one. Never in the field of human conflict went so much owed by so many to so few. Great Britain is still alone. But now there are rumblings in the Far East. On December 7, 1941, Great Britain was joined in the fight. It has been the pleasure of the National Broadcasting Company to bring you Sandy Kay's Sunday Serenade, featuring his world fame swinging through a jiffy. The poem read by Sandy Kay was When We're Apart by Wilson Derren. Today's broadcast comes to you from our studios in Rachel City, New York. From the NBC Newsroom in New York, President Roosevelt said in a statement today that the Japanese have attacked the Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, from the air. I will repeat that. President Roosevelt says that the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii from the air. And now the final issue was at hand. A common goal. The unconditional surrender of all the Axis powers. The utter defeat and surrender of Germany, Italy, and Japan. The goal of the Allies? President Roosevelt. In the future days that we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want, which translated into world terms means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy, peacetime life for its inhabitants everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear, which translated into world terms means a worldwide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor anywhere in the world. And now the time has come for the crossing of the channel. The invasion of the continent. D-Day. Just four years before from the port of Dunkirk slogged the remnants of the Allied forces. Now the greatest invasion in the history of man would be underway. At 3.32 a.m. New York time from Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, General Eisenhower made the momentous announcement. D-Day had arrived. On the morning of June 6, 1944 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke to the nation and the world by radio. Almighty God, our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Lead them straight and cruel. Give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again. And we know that by thy grace and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph. They will be sore-tried by night and by day without rest until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war. With thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogance. Lead us to the saving of our country and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace, a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men, and a peace that will let all men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil. Thy will be done, almighty God. It is now September 2nd, 1945, the place Tokyo Bay, the situation, the Japanese surrender ceremony aboard the United States battleship Missouri. Now would unfold drama unbelievable in the long history of mankind. From the foremast of the Missouri flew an American flag, the same flag that flew over the Capitol on December 7th, 1941. There was another flag, a flag with 31 stars. The flag used 91 years before by Commodore Perry, the first American flag ever flown on Japanese soil. Now to the microphone came General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander, Pacific Theater. We are gathered here, representatives of the major warring powers, to conclude a solemn agreement whereby peace may be restored. The issues involving divergent ideals and ideologies have been determined on the battlefields of the world, and hence are not for our discussion or debate. It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance, and justice. The war was over. It was done. 2,131 days from Munich to Tokyo Bay. It is to the everlasting tribute to man that in the long history of civilization he has faced tyranny and slavery and has won. There are great heroes and great generals and great victories, but when the history of the triumph is written there are really no names. It is as Winston Churchill said. I stand at the head of a government representing all parties in the state, all creeds, all classes, every recognizable section of opinion. We are ranged beneath the crown of our ancient monarchy. We are supported by a free parliament and a free press. But there is one bond which unites us all and sustains us in the public regard, namely, as it increasingly becoming known that we are prepared to proceed to all extremities, to endure them and to enforce them. That is our bond of union in His Majesty's government tonight. Only in times like these can nations preserve their freedom and thus only can they uphold the cause entrusted to their care. But all depends now upon the whole life strength of the British race, all our associated peoples, and of all our well-wishers in every land doing their utmost night and day, giving all, daring all, enduring all to the utmost, to the end. There is no war of chieftains or of princes, of dynasties or national ambitions. It is a war of peoples and of courties. There are vast numbers, not only in this island, but in every land, who will render faithful service in this war. But whose names will never be known, whose deeds will never be recorded. This is a war of the unknown warrior. The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company has brought you The Voices and Sounds of World War II, the most dramatic and tragic period in the history of man. This program was written, produced, and directed by Bud Greenspan. My name is David Perry.
