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King Exhorts Empire
To Strive for
Abundance of Peace
LONDON, Wednesday.
"With the whole of my heart I pray to God, by whose grace
victory has been won, that this Christmas may bring to my peoples
all the world over every joy they have dreamed of in days that
have gone," said the King in his Christmas broadcast to the Em-
pire from his study at Sandringham yesterday afternoon.
"For six years I have spoken at
Christmas to an Empire at war. Dur-
ing all those years of sorrow and
danger, of weariness and strife, you
and I have been held up by a vision
of a world peace and now that vision
has become a reality, By gigantic
efforts and sacrifices a great work
has been done and a great evil has
been cast from the earth. No peoples
have done more to cast it out than
you to whom I speak. This Christmas
is a real home coming for us all - a
return to a world in which the homely
friendly things of life can again
be ours," added His Majesty.
' To win the victoiy much that was
of great price has been given up and
much has been ravaged and destroyed
by the hand of war, but things
that have been saved are beyond
price. In these homelands of the
British peoples, which we saved from
destruction, we still possess the
things that make life precious and
we shall find them strengthened and
deepened by the fires of battle.
"Faith in these things held us in
the brotherhood through all our trials
and carried us through these hard
years. Together all our peoples
around the globe have met every
danger, triumphed over it and, we
are together still. Most of all we are
together as a one world-wide family
in the joy of Christmas.
"I think of the men and women of
every race within the Empire returning
from their long service to their
own families, to their homes and to
their ways of peace. I think of chil-
dren freed from unnatural fears and
blacked-out world celebrating this
Christmas in light and happiness in a
family circle once more reunited.
"There will be vacant places of
those who will never return - brave
souls who gave their all to win the
peace for us. We remember them
with pride and with unfailing love
praying that greater peace than ours
may now be theirs
Much still to be done
"There are those still numbered in
millions who are spending Christmas
far from their homes, engaged in the
East and West in the long difficult
task of restoring to the shattered
countries the means and manners of
civilised life, but many anxieties have
been lifted from your folks at home
and the coming of peace brings you
nearer to the heart's desire.
"There is not yet for us the abund-
ance of peace. We all have to make
a little go a long way but Christmas
comes with its message of hope and
fellowship to all men and goodwill
and warmth, of our hearts to the
kindliness and comradeship. We can-
not this day forget how much is still
to be done before the blessings of
peace are brought to all the world.
"In the liberated countries millions
will spend this Christmas under
terribly hard conditions with only the
bare necessities of life. The nations
of the world are not yet united as
a family, so let our sympathy for
others move us in humble gratitude
that God has given our Common-
wealth and Empire a wonderful spirit
of unity and affection.
Tribute to War Service
"To the younger of you I would
say a special word. You have grown
up in a world at war in which your
fine spirit of service has been devoted
to the single purpose of the over-
throw and destruction of our enemies.
''You have known a world only as
a world of strife and fear. Bring
now all that fine spirit to make it
one of joyous adventure, a home in
which men and women can live in
mutual trust and walk together as
friends.
''Do not judge life by what you
have seen of it in the grimness and
waste of war, nor yet by the con-
fusion of the first years of peace.
Have faith in life at its best and
bring to it your courage and hopes
and your sense of honour.
' Merriment is the birthright of
young but we can all keep it in our
hearts as long as life goes on, if we
hold fast by the spirit that refuses
to admit defeat by faith, that never
falters and by hope that cannot be
quenched.
Boundless Opportunities for
Service
"Let us have no fear of the future,
but think of it as an opportunity
and adventure. The same dauntless
resolve, which you have shown so
abundantly in the years of danger,
that the power of darkness shall not
prevail, must now be turned to a
happier purpose to make the light
shine more brightly everywhere,
"The light of joy can most surely
be kindled around the fireside where
most of you are listening to me. The
home life as you all remember at
Christmas is life at its best. There
in the trust and love of parents,
children, brothers and sisters we
learn how men of the nations too
may live together in unity and peace.
"So to evenrone of you gathered
now in your homes or holding a
thought of home in your hearts, I
say - Merry Christmas and may God
bless you all," concluded the King.
Empire Exchange of Greetings
The last in an Empire broadcast
round-up preceding the King's speech
was Mr Harold le Druillenec, the
only British survivor from the Bel-
sen horror camp.
Druillenec concluded with greet-
ings, "Dieu fave le roi," which is the
ancient Channel Islands idiom for
"God Save the King."
He was speaking from St Peter,
Port Guernsey and recalled that last
Christmas Day he stood at attention
for five hours, as a result of which
many of his comrades died.
Preceding Druillenec there was a
world wide exchange of Christmas
scenes and greetings ranging from
a Sussex village to Singapore,
Prague, Oslo and Cogers Inn, in Fleet
Street, from where Australian
servicemen spoke.
Norwegian and British paratroops
who helped to liberate Norway,
joined in Oslo in singing the "Paratroop
Song" which was learned in training
in Britain.
At last came a message from the
liner, Queen Elizabeth, carrying
homeward-bound Canadian troops, in
mid-Atlantic, and from a British
airliner homeward bound.
The Empire link-up included greet-
ings to Britain from an officer just
returned to Wellington (NZ) and
from a heavy bomber pilot shot down
over Germany, and from a typical
Australian homestead to which he
had just returned.
The telephone line which carried
the voice of le Druillenec as he spoke
from the ramparts of a Napoleonic
castle in Guernsey Harbour, was laid
underground by Germany, who
ordered that, because of the danger
from Allied bombers, the overhead
line should be torn down.
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