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Opinion: As Obama heads to Normandy, it’s time to recall Roosevelt’s extraordinary ‘D-Day Prayer’

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Don’t be surprised if you suddenly hear the voice of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on your radio Saturday. Chances are you will be hearing him recite what has become known as the “D-Day Prayer.”

Saturday is the 65th anniversary of the D-Day Invasion of Normandy in World War II. President Obama will be among the dignitaries marking the event in northern France.

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But before the commemorative ceremonies begin, the Ticket wanted to share a little-known fact about June 6, 1944. On that day FDR asked Americans to join him in praying for the troops.

The prayer does not invoke one faith, but the appeal to God is bold and unapologetic. The D-Day Prayer was an extraordinary event in U.S. religious history.

According to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, N.Y., the White House released the text of the prayer in the afternoon and Roosevelt delivered the prayer at 10 p.m. Eastern time. The D-Day radio audience has been estimated at 100 million.

‘If that estimate is right, then on that Tuesday in June, Franklin Roosevelt led what was, at the time, one of the largest single mass prayers in human history.’

That’s the verdict of author Jon Meacham in his insightful book ‘American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers and the Making of a Nation.’

Roosevelt’s language, as often was the case with his speeches, was unflinching:

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. 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 goodwill among all thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home. 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.

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In recent years, various groups and individuals, most notably former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, have been encouraging radio stations to play the 6-minute prayer on the D-Day anniversary to honor the troops of today. On his website, Gingrich notes that more than 1,500 stations played the speech last year.

To hear FDR read the prayer, visit Gingrich’s website or follow this link. Scrroll down for the entire text, as provided by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. It vividly captures the emotion of that time.

-- Steve Padilla

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‘With thy blessing, we shall prevail’

The text of FDR’s prayer:

My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

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.

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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.

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 goodwill among all thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

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.

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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.

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