Jan. 24, 1965 - Winston Churchill’s struggle for life ended this morning, and the people he had cherished and inspired and led through darkness mourned him as they have no other in this age.
Sir Winston, the linchpin of the Grand Alliance of 26 nations that vanquished the Axis powers in 1945 after nearly six years of war, died just after 8 a.m., in the 10th day of public anxiety over his condition after a stroke. He was 90 years old.
The great figure who embodied man’s will to resist tyranny passed into history this morning. He was 90 years old.
His old friend and physician, Lord Moran, gave the news to the world after informing Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
Queen Elizabeth II sent the following message to Lady Churchill:
“The whole world is the poorer by the loss of his many-sided genius, while the survival of this country and the sister nations of the Commonwealth, in the face of the greatest danger that has ever threatened them, will be a perpetual memorial to his leadership, his vision, and his indomitable courage.”
Prime Minister Wilson immediately paid tribute to his illustrious predecessor in office: “Sir Winston will be mourned all over the world by all who owe so much to him. He is now at peace after a life in which he created history and which will be remembered as long as history is read.”
For Churchill as for his countrymen, his finest hour came in 1940 when Britain stood alone. He employed all his skill as an orator to rally British pride and courage and all his ability as a statesman to get arms and sustenance from abroad.
With almost all of Europe under or about to fall under the Nazi jackboot, it was Sir Winston who flung this challenge at the enemy:
“We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.
“We shall never surrender, and even if — which I do not for a moment believe — this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British fleet, would carry on the struggle until, in God’s good time, the new world, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”
Quite apart from his fame as a world statesman and global strategist, Sir Winston won distinction as an artist and fame as a historian and author. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. A special citation paid tribute to his oratory.
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