President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Invasion Prayer for Allied Troops.
WASHINGTON, D.C. –(AP)—This is the invasion prayer which President Roosevelt wrote while the Allied troops were landing on the coast of France and which he will read to the nation by radio at 9 p.m. (C.W.T.) tonight:
My Fellow Americans:
In this poignant hour, I ask you to join me in prayer:
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 true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to our hearts, steadfastness to their faith.
They will need thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. 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 tired by night and by day, without rest—till victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violence’s of war.
These are men lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of the conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
And for us at home—fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them—help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in thee in this hour of great struggle.
Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask, that our people devote themselves in continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking thy help to our efforts.
Give us strength, too—strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and material support of our armed forces.
And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment—let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
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.
They will be done, Almighty God. Amen.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, Iowa, Tuesday, June 6, 1944
