[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14729-14730]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  IN COMMEMORATION OF D-DAY AND HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES: PRESIDENT 
                     FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT'S PRAYER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. English) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, for those who question the 
role of religious expression and religious faith in our national 
history and in our public square, I rise tonight to read a nationally 
broadcast prayer that was read on D-Day, June 6, 1944, by President 
Franklin D. Roosevelt as our troops landed at Normandy. I am reading 
this prayer in the House tonight to both commemorate this event and to 
honor the men and women of our Armed Forces.
  ``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 their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
  ``They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For 
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 tried, by night and by day, without rest until 
the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's 
souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

[[Page 14730]]

  ``For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight 
not for the lust of 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.

                              {time}  1900

  ``Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, 
Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
  ``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 sacrifice.
  ``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 a 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 the 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 ever 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 arrogancies. 
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 of men live in 
freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
  ``Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.''

                          ____________________