“ ... so much owed by so many to so few” — Sir Winston Churchill

Dear Sir,

On September 20, my wife, June, and I attended a Choral Evensong at the majestic Romanesque Norwich Cathedral, which has stood for 900 years. The thanksgiving service commemorated the 86th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and the nation’s enduring gratitude for the sacrifices of life made during the darkest moments of the Second World War. The service included a liturgy in which the congregation rededicated itself to peace, justice, and freedom in the world.

The evensong commemorated the Battle of Britain and all nations who served in the Royal Air Force and the Air Forces of the Commonwealth and made the great sacrifice. Today's RAF servicemen and women were praised for service in various parts of the world.

In brief, this letter recalls the background to the hostilities of June 1940: Germany (Nazi Reich) wanted to invade Britain by sea; however, it needed to control the skies over the English Channel, so the Luftwaffe was intent on defeating the RAF.

Dubbed Operation Sea Lion, the Germans tried to bomb airfields and RAF radar stations where mechanics, engineers and support staff were based. Except they underestimated the RAF, whose air force was reinforced by pilots from Britain's far-flung Empire, including Bermuda, Jamaica, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Allied pilots from Poland and Czechoslovakia also boosted their ranks.

By September 1940, the Luftwaffe was humiliated by the tactical RAF and unable to sustain losses; it ended the Blitz over British cities. German capitulation in this part of the battle prompted Prime Minister Winston Churchill to compliment the RAF, saying, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

I end this piece on the Battle of Britain with another aspect of the Second World War, a prayer of forgiveness found in a liberated concentration camp. I discovered the memorial prayer while strolling through the ancient corridors of the Benedictine monastery dissolved during the Reformation, now Norwich Cathedral. The prayer memorial is quietly preserved behind a glass barrier in the Chapel of the Holy Innocents*, written by Hildegard Schäder, a prisoner at Ravensbrück concentration camp, No 31,795.

“O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will

but also those of ill will.

But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted upon us;

remember the fruits we bore, thanks to this suffering —

our comradeship

our loyalty

our humility

the courage

the generosity

the greatness of heart which has grown out of this;

and when they come to judgment,

let all the fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness.

Amen.“

(A prayer found written on a piece of scrap paper in Ravensbrück concentration camp in the 1940s during the Second World War. It is a prayer that good may come from evil.)

* Chapel of the Holy Innocents: it is dedicated to the male infants who were slaughtered by King Herod (Matthew 2:16-18) in his determination to kill baby Jesus, who had already escaped with Mary and Joseph to Egypt.

THE REVEREND FRED HASSELL

Paget