Great Englishmen

  Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC This was the man who, in 1940, as the country faced disaster on every front, the political elite and the civil servants schemed and plotted to keep from power at all costs. Fortunately for the world, they failed. His funeral was as it should have been, a full State occassion, probably the last one we will ever see for a commoner. It has always been a rare honour, with Nelson and Wellington among the very few accorded it. Sir Winston's was also unique in that the crowds exceeded even Princess Diana's funeral and, as the Port of London Authorities launch, bearing the coffin travelled up the Thames, the moored ships lowered their ensigns in salute, and the wharfside cranes lowered their jib-booms. Even Tower Bridge raised its caissons as the procession passed and the minute guns fired their salute as a background to his arrival at Tower Wharf. This nation, as indeed every "free" nation, owes this man an enormous debt. It was his determination, his refusal to surrender, and his fighting spirit which fired the free world into action and marshalled the forces of freedom against the dictatorships then engulfing and enslaving Europe and the Far East. There are, of course, those who today try to rewrite the history, who dig deep to find those who hated him and who loathed him and did their utmost to frustrate and thwart his leadership. In the end, though, they reveal themselves as the pygmies and hobgoblins they are. Nothing can detract from the achievement of rescuing a lost cause and turning it into a victory. Not even the Labour Party's treasonable support for strikes in munitions plants, strikes in shipyards, and strikes in the coal mines even as the nation's military were dying in defending them. Churchill strode above it all and left us a legacy to be proud of. He managed to hold together a government of "National Unity" with members of all parties in his cabinet, treating them with a courtesy and respect they did not return. Indeed, the Labour Party used their positions to spend the war undermining him and preparing for the election they forced immediately after VE Day. Even that act of treachery did not deter this greatest of men. Many in the colonies and Dominions also did not appreciate his sometimes ruthless approach, and in Australia particularly there was and is a lot of ill feeling over his refusal to release the Australian divisions from the Western Desert to defend against a possible invasion of Australia by the Japanese. Those who do criticise him for his apparently callous dismissal of the call from Canberra fail to understand just how close the desert front was to collapse. The removal of this vital force would have been a disaster. Perhaps he could have been a bit more diplomatic, but perhaps, too, he didn't have the time to be. In his own words during the Battle of Britain, "If the British Empire lasts a thousand years, men will still say that this was their finest hour!" Sir Winston Churchill received numerous honours and awards thoughout his career as a statesman and author. Perhaps the highest of these was the state funeral held at St Paul's Cathedral after his body had lain in state for three days in Westminster Hall a signal honour only rarely granted to anybody but a monarch or consort. The funeral also saw the largest assemblage of statesmen in the world until the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005. Throughout his life, Churchill also accumulated other honours and awards. He was awarded 37 other orders and medals between 1885 and 1963. Of the orders, decorations and medals Churchill received, 20 were awarded by Great Britain, three by France, two each by Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and Spain, and one each by Egypt, Libya, Nepal, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States. Ten were awarded for active service as an Army officer in Cuba, India, Egypt, South Africa, Great Britain, France, and Belgium. The greater number of awards were given in recognition of his service as a minister of the British government. List of honours Order of the Garter (Knight Companion) Order of Merit Order of the Companions of Honour Territorial Decoration Fellow of the Royal Society Queen's Privy Council for Canada (1941) Privy Councillor (1907) Karlspreis (1956) Nobel Prize in Literature (1953) Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (1941) Légion d'honneur (Grand Cross) Cross of the Order of Military Merit, Red Ribbon, First Class, Spain Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold with Palm, Belgium Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Lion of the Netherlands Grand Cross, Order of the Oaken Crown, Luxembourg Grand Cross with Chain, Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, Norway Order of the Elephant, Denmark Order of Liberation, France Military Spanish cross of the order of military merit (1895), The India medal with clasp, Punjab Frontier 18978 (1898) The Queen's Sudan medal, 18968 (1899) The Queen's South Africa medal, 18991902, with six clasps (1901) 1914-15 Star Territorial Decoration King George V Coronation Medal British War Medal 1914-1918 Africa Star Italy Star France and Germany Star War Medal 1939-1945 Some famous Quotes From Churchill. We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it. The British nation is unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst. The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes. In war: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity. In peace: Good Will. "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. 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 gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. "

Young Winston Churchill as a Subaltern

 in the 4th Hussars, February, 1895

A young Winston Churchill and fiance Clementine Hozier shortly before their marriage in 1908.

  Chruchill with

Dwight Eisenhower

Chruchill

Franklin D. Roosevelt

& Starlin

Winston Churchill on the Balconey at Buckingham Palaceon VE day May 8th 1945 with HRH King George VI & HRH Queen Elizebeth & Princess Elizebeth & Princess Margret