Freedom's Greatest Hero
By Jeff Lukens

Winston Spencer Churchill's refusal to cower to Adolf Hitler's overwhelming power in 1940 raises him to be among the greatest defenders of freedom in all history. The Normandy invasion and the subsequent freedom of millions of Europeans occurred primarily because he took such a bold stand at a critical time. More than 60 years later, his story is still an inspiration for freedom-loving people everywhere.

Throughout the 1930s, Churchill warned that Hitler's rise had to be confronted before it was too late. His warnings went unheeded, leaving him a political outcast. By 1939, however, Hitler's war machine was rolling and Churchill's predictions about him were becoming evident.

Churchill succeeded Neville Chamberlain as prime minister on May 10, 1940, the same day Hitler launched his offensive into Western Europe. Churchill commented that day, ``I only hope that it is not too late.''

In the dark days that followed, an Allied victory seemed unimaginable. Holland fell in hours. Belgium fell in days. In two weeks the Germans had broken through to the English Channel, splitting the French and British armies. The fall of France followed in mid-June. Britain then stood alone against the German onslaught.

While some of his compatriots began wondering whether Britain should sue for peace, Churchill stood firm through this bleak time. He convinced the British that their only choice was to fight on alone, even if that meant they were to go down fighting.

In a series of rousing speeches, Churchill rallied his people's courage and sense of historic greatness. ``We shall not flag or fail,'' he said before Parliament on June 4. ``We shall go on till the end. ... 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.''

The effect was electrifying. Pensive members of Parliament rose in thundering applause. Their astonishment that the British Empire could face such imminent danger was transformed into a dogged defiance. In the days and weeks that followed, Churchill persuaded his countrymen to wave off danger, take heart in ``standing alone'' and hold on until the tide of war changed.

Flush with victory in France, Hitler waited for a British peace offer. The British meanwhile prepared their  defenses, and what may have been militarily possible for Hitler in early June was becoming increasingly improbable with each passing day.

For an invasion to succeed, the Luftwaffe would first have to dominate the air. The Royal Air Force and its airfields were thus the focus of the initial air raids.

When the Battle of Britain began in August, the Germans held almost a 3- to-1 advantage in aircraft. As the air battle raged, the RAF was downing German aircraft at a rate of nearly 2- to-1. Yet after weeks of relentless attacks, it appeared the Luftwaffe was wearing them down. Then the Luftwaffe changed its objective and began bombing London and other cities, trying to cause a civilian panic.

While many people died in the blitz, the change in German plans allowed the RAF to retain its presence in the skies over southern England.

Churchill urged his fellow citizens to conduct themselves so that, ``if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, `This was their finest hour.' '' He spent much time among ordinary people who had lost homes and loved ones in the bombings. Their stories of courage and adversity often moved him to tears.

Winter was coming and the RAF was still a threat, so Hitler called off the invasion. Churchill knew that alone Britain could not defeat Germany. Yet Britain defended itself and dealt Hitler his first setback.

Churchill knew he had to keep his island nation in the fight until the United States entered the war. With Hitler unrestrained on the continent, that would be just a matter of time.

The German army was invading the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941. Had Britain fallen the year before, the Germans likely would have been successful against the Soviets as well. We could have seen a Nazi empire stretching from central Russia to the Atlantic.

Or, had the Soviets prevailed, we may have seen their ``Iron Curtain'' span from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

Yet Britain did survive, D-Day occurred, and the continent has seen - at least in Western Europe - freedom ever since. This legacy is due in large part to Winston Churchill. His courage to confront a threat before it becomes a catastrophe, and not to make a false peace with oppressors, are crucial lessons for today in the war on terror.

While we remember the brave men who went ashore that fateful morning, at D-Day plus 60 years, we should also remember a man who made it possible.

With daring and sheer will, Winston Churchill rallied Britain to its finest hour and turned back tyranny for the free world. No other individual in the past century better deserves to he honored as a defender of the freedoms we enjoy today.

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