Sir Winston Churchill - 'Never has so much' - Legion #125 Memorial - Rochfort Bridge, Alberta
Posted by: wildwoodke
N 53° 54.682 W 115° 02.603
11U E 628520 N 5975434
This small obelisk contains a famous quote of Sir Winston Churchill from August 20, 1940 - 'Never has so much...'. The obelisk is found on the southeast corner of the cemetery at Rochfort Bridge, Alberta.
Waymark Code: WMDTXJ
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 02/24/2012
Views: 23
The speach, "Never was so much owed by so many to so few..." was a wartime speech made by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on 20 August 1940. The name stems from the specific line in the speech,
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few,
referring to the ongoing efforts of the Royal Air Force pilots who were at the time fighting the Battle of Britain, the pivotal air battle with the German Luftwaffe with Britain expecting a German invasion. The speech also refers to the aerial bombing campaign by RAF Bomber Command, although the speech is usually taken to only refer to Fighter Command. With the Battle of Britain won a few months later and German plans postponed, the Allied airmen of the battle ultimately became known as "The Few".
See: Wikipedia Link
More of the text around the quote: "The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day, but we must never forget that all the time, night after night, month after month, our bomber squadrons travel far into Germany, find their targets in the darkness by the highest navigational skill, aim their attacks, often under the heaviest fire, often with serious loss, with deliberate, careful discrimination, and inflict shattering blows upon the whole of the technical and war-making structure of the Nazi power. On no part of the Royal Air Force does the weight of the war fall more heavily than on the daylight bombers who will play an invaluable part in the case of invasion and whose unflinching zeal it has been necessary in the meanwhile on numerous occasions to restrain..."