Roosevelt, defender of democracy, architect of world peace and cooperation.Īnd our thoughts go out to our gallant Allies in this war: to those who resisted the invaders to those who were not strong enough to hold out, but who, nevertheless, kept the fires of resistance alive within the souls of their people to those who stood up against great odds and held the line, until the United Nations together were able to supply the arms and the men with which to overcome the forces of evil. We think of our departed gallant leader, Franklin D. Our thoughts go out to our civil servants and to the thousands of Americans who, at personal sacrifice, have come to serve in our Government during these trying years to the members of the Selective Service boards and ration boards to the civilian defense and Red Cross workers to the men and women in the USO and in the entertainment world-to all those who have helped in this cooperative struggle to preserve liberty and decency in the world. Our thoughts go out to the millions of American workers and businessmen, to our farmers and miners-to all those who have built up this country's fighting strength, and who have shipped to our Allies the means to resist and overcome the enemy. We think of all the men and women and children who during these years have carried on at home, in lonesomeness and anxiety and fear. We think of all the millions of men and women in our armed forces and merchant marine all over the world who, after years of sacrifice and hardship and peril, have been spared by Providence from harm.
It is our responsibility-ours, the living-to see to it that this victory shall be a monument worthy of the dead who died to win it. Only the knowledge that the victory, which these sacrifices have made possible, will be wisely used, can give them any comfort. No victory can bring back the faces they longed to see. We think of those whom death in this war has hurt, taking from them fathers, husbands, sons, brothers, and sisters whom they loved. On land and sea and in the air, American men and women have given their lives so that this day of ultimate victory might come and assure the survival of a civilized world. Our first thoughts, of course-thoughts of gratefulness and deep obligation-go out to those of our loved ones who have been killed or maimed in this terrible war. God grant that in our pride of the hour, we may not forget the hard tasks that are still before us that we may approach these with the same courage, zeal, and patience with which we faced the trials and problems of the past four years.
To all of us there comes first a sense of gratitude to Almighty God who sustained us and our Allies in the dark days of grave danger, who made us to grow from weakness into the strongest fighting force in history, and who has now seen us overcome the forces of tyranny that sought to destroy His civilization. Their armies and what is left of their Navy are now impotent. But their power to destroy and kill has been taken from them. The evil done by the Japanese war lords can never be repaired or forgotten. The Japanese militarists will not forget the U.S.S. It was a long road to Tokyo-and a bloody one. The mighty threat to civilization which began there is now laid at rest. They have signed terms of unconditional surrender.įour years ago, the thoughts and fears of the whole civilized world were centered on another piece of American soil-Pearl Harbor. There on that small piece of American soil anchored in Tokyo Harbor the Japanese have just officially laid down their arms. The thoughts and hopes of all America-indeed of all the civilized world-are centered tonight on the battleship Missouri.
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