In every nation there are symbols of the character and courage of its people. In Great Britain, one of these symbols is the Cabinet War Rooms.
This secret underground bunker below central London, just blocks away from Parliament Square, housed the British government command center for six years during World War II. I am standing in one of the 200 or so rooms that make up this complex. Hundreds of government and military leaders and strategists, including Prime Minister Winston Churchill, worked around the clock in this space to keep their island nation safe. The rooms are spartan, cramped, and almost unremarkable—until you consider what happened here.
The map room was considered the single most important room in the whole complex. Here a team of analysts sifted through intelligence from every theatre of the war, reporting daily to the King, the Prime Minister, and military leaders. In a cramped closet, Churchill communicated on a secure line with United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the cabinet room, Churchill and his inner circle met 115 times—bringing together diverse views in an attempt to, as the Prime Minister had urged, “go forward together with our united strength.”[1] In the small BBC broadcasting studio, he spoke to his allies in occupied France. “Sleep to gather strength for the morning,” he told them in French, “for the morning will come. Brightly will it shine on the brave and true; kindly upon all who suffer for the cause; glorious upon the tombs of heroes—thus will shine the dawn.”[2]
When Churchill first took office, he pledged, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”[3] Not only did he keep that pledge, he also inspired millions to “not flinch or weary of the struggle—hard and protracted though it will be.”[4]
“Let us therefore,” he said, “brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that … [in] a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”[5]
As we each search for our own “finest hour,” Churchill’s stirring words remind us that we probably won’t find it in a moment of ease or comfort. More likely it will be hidden in a dark time in our lives, a time of “blood, toil, tears and sweat”—but a time when we held on with courage, hope, and optimism that “the morning will come.”
[1] Winston Churchill, address to the House of Commons, May 13, 1940, winstonchurchill.org.
[2] Winston Churchill, broadcast to the people of France, Oct. 21, 1940.
[3] Winston Churchill, address to the House of Commons, May 13, 1940, winstonchurchill.org.
[4] Winston Churchill, broadcast to London, Sept. 11, 1940, nationalchurchillmuseum.org.
[5] Winston Churchill, address to the House of Commons, June 18, 1940, winstonchurchill.org.
__________________________________________
May 28, 2023
Broadcast Number 4,889
The Tabernacle Choir
Orchestra at Temple Square
Conductor
Mack Wilberg
Organist
Brian Mathias
Host
Lloyd Newell
God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand
George W. Warren; Arr. Mack Wilberg
Called to Serve
Walter G. Tyler; Arr. Mack Wilberg
A Flower Remembered
John Rutter
Nearer, My God, to Thee
Lowell Mason; Arr. Brian Mathias
Fantasy on “Kingsfold”
English folk melody; Arr. H. Dean Wagner
O God, Our Help in Ages Past
William Croft; Arr. Mack Wilberg
Battle Hymn of the Republic
William Steffe; Arr. Peter J. Wilhousky