Media

Trump Reads FDR’s Prayer At D-Day 75th Anniversary Event

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
Font Size:

President Donald Trump joined delegations from all over the world Wednesday to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy, France.

A wide-ranging ceremony held at the D-Day launch point of Portsmouth, Great Britain, featured remarks from Queen Elizabeth II of England and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The president’s addition to the solemn occasion was the reading of a prayer, originally delivered on D-Day by then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

WATCH:

“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,” the prayer began.

Originally broadcast on the radio the evening of June 6, 1944, the prayer Trump read marked the first news American citizens had gotten of the massive invasion that was still unfolding an ocean away. (RELATED: PM Theresa May Gifts Trump A Draft Of The Atlantic Charter)

“They will need thy blessings, for the enemy is strong,” the prayer continued. “He may hurl back our forces, but we shall return again. And again. And we know that by thy grace, and by the righteous of our cause, our sons will triumph. Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, the heroic servants, into thy kingdom.”

The Queen remembered the words of her father, King George VI, in her own address to the gathered crowd.

“75 years ago, hundreds of thousands of young soldiers, sailors and airmen left these shores in the cause of freedom,” she began. “In a broadcast to the nation at that time, my father, King George VI, said: ‘What is demanded from us all is something more than courage and endurance; we need a revival of spirit, a new unconquerable resolve.’ That is exactly what those brave men brought to the battle, as the fate of the world depended on their success.”

Follow Virginia on Twitter