With the War in Europe over for a little over a month, and the War in the Pacific still two months off, it was a time for cautious celebration. General Eisenhower, who oversaw military operations for the European campaign, Eisenhower returned home to a hero’s welcome.
On this day in 1945, General Eisenhower was invited to address a joint session of Congress to give his assessment of the war and the war effort in bringing victory to the allied forces and defeating Nazi Germany.
General Eisenhower: “The American fighting man has never failed to recognize his dependence upon you at home. I am grateful for this opportunity to stand before the Congress and express my own and the thanks of every soldier, sailor and airman to the countrymen who have remained devoted to their tasks.
This feeling goes beyond the tangible things-guns, ammunition, tanks and planes, although in these things you have sent us the most and the best. It extends to such intangibles as the confidence and sympathetic understanding which have filled the letters written by families and friends to the men up front. For a few moments, simple words of affection and cheer blot out the danger and loneliness and hardship which are the soldier’s life. They send him back with renewed vigor and courage to his inexorable task of crushing the enemy.
I hope you realize that all you have done for the soldier has been truly appreciated. Never have they felt absent from your anxious care and warm affections. The Red Cross-to name just one outstanding organization-stands high in their admiration. The Red Cross, with its clubs for recreation, its coffee and doughnuts in the forward areas, its readiness to meet the needs of the well and help minister to the wounded-even more important, the devotion and warm-hearted sympathy of the Red Cross girl! The Red Cross has often seemed to be the friendly hand of this nation, reaching across the sea to sustain its fighting men.
The battlefront and the home front; together we have found the victory! But even the banners of triumph cannot hide from our sight the sacrifices in which victory has been bought. The hard task of a commander is to send men into battle knowing some of them-often many-must be killed or wounded in order that necessary missions may be achieved.
It is a soul-killing task! My sorrow is not only for the fine young lives lost or broken, but it is equally for the parents, the wives and the friends who have been bereaved. The price they pay is possibly the greatest. The blackness of their grief can be relieved only by the faith that all this shall not happen again! Because I feel this so deeply I hope you will let me attempt to express a thought that I believe is today imbedded deep in the hearts of all fighting men.
It is this. The soldier knows how grim and black was the outlook for the Allies in 1941 and ’42. He is fully aware of the magnificent way the United Nations responded to the threat. To his mind the problems of peace can be no more difficult than the one you had to solve more than three years ago, and which, in one battle area, has been brought to a successful conclusion. He knows that in war the threat of separate annihilation tends to hold Allies together; he hopes we can find in peace a nobler incentive to produce the same unity.
He passionately believes that, with the same determination, the same optimistic resolution and the same mutual consideration among Allies that marshalled in Europe forces capable of crushing what had been the greatest war machine of history, the problems of peace can and must be met. He sees the United Nations strong but considerate; humane and understanding leaders in the world to preserve the peace he is winning.
The genius and power of America have, with her Allies, eliminated one menace to our country’s freedom-even her very existence. Still another remains to be crushed in the Pacific before peace will be restored. The American men and women I have been so honored to command, would, I know, say this to you today:
In our minds and hearts there is no slightest doubt that our people’s spirit of determination which has buoyed us up and driven us forward in Europe, will continue to fire this nation through the ordeals of battle yet to come. Though we dream of return to our loved ones, we are ready, as we have always been, to do our duty to our country, no matter what it may be. In this spirit we renew our pledge of service to Commander-in-Chief President Truman, under whose strong leadership we know that final victory is certain.
Here is General Eisenhower’s address to Congress from June 18, 1945, complete with a breathless reporter’s introduction.
