October 1, 2026
Last year, 60 years had elapsed since the passing of one who I have repeatedly described as the Man of the 20th Century. His name: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. Not a whimper from the media for over a year now. I shudder to think what kind of world we would be living in today had it not been for Churchill, despite the recent turmoil here at home.
Churchill should forever remind us that no matter how gloomy the present appears, there is always hope. Despite facing overwhelming odds against what appeared to be an unstoppable war machine, he never lost hope. During a 3-year period (1940-43) of utter disasters and obstacles, during the darkest hours our world has ever known – he never stopped believing, never lost faith, never gave up. And, he never lost his love for cigars and hard liquor.
But let’s go back to the beginning. Our man Churchill was the oldest son of Lord Randolph Churchill and Jennie Jerome. Why is this important? Two things: first, he was born into royalty and secondly, Jerome was an American heiress. Translated in English, this means that Winnie was half American. In his early years at the turn of the 20th century, he was captured during the Boer War. His daring escape elevated him to a national hero. He was then actively involved with the Admiralty. It was here that he floundered and was disliked by key government officials prior to the start of WWII. But the infamous Neville Chamberlain’s disastrous appeasement approach to Hitler – resulting in a laughable peace pact and a subsequent declaration of war with Germany following Hitler’s invasion of Poland – elevated Churchill to Prime Minister in May 1940. What followed were truly the dark days of WWII when our hero managed to survive what he described as “their finest hour.”
But the good Lord took a liking to our hero. There was the incessant bombing, the fear factor, the collapse of France, Hitler overrunning nearly all of Europe, and disasters on both land and sea. He blessed him and his beloved England with three major turning points in the war:
- The English Channel
- Hitler’s idiotic delayed invasion of Russia
- Pearl Harbor – which brought us (America) to his rescue.
The rest is history. But unfortunately, a history that many have forgotten.
I close with an edited assessment (source unknown) of Winston Churchill: “His true importance, however, rests on the fact that by sheer stubborn courage, he led the British people and with them, the democratic Western world, from the brink of total disaster to a final victory in the greatest conflict that our world has ever seen.”
I believe his “finest hour” quote was topped only by his statement, “All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” I would humbly add “courage.” So let us hope that, at this time of troubling waters, this great man will show the way for not only all of us as individuals, but also our leaders.
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