“A Pure Miracle”: D-Day Prayers
On June 6, 1944, Americans awakened to electrifying news: Allied forces had landed on the beaches of Normandy, beginning the invasion of Nazi-occupied France. Code-named Operation Overlord, the Battle of Normandy involved the largest armada in the history of the world. Some 5,333 ships and landing craft carrying 175,000 men, including 57,500 Americans, took part.
The Second World War had raged in Europe for five years, with Nazi Germany invading and destroying one country after another, slaughtering tens of millions, soldiers and civilians alike. When news of the long-awaited invasion came over the radios of American parents, wives, siblings, and children, they immediately began to pray.
“The reaction of many Americans, whenever they found out what was happening that day, was to attend religious services,” says Keith Huxen, senior director of research and history at the National World War II Museum.
Throughout the day, stores closed and churches and synagogues opened. They filled over and over again as Americans knelt down, bowed their heads, and pled with God to protect Allied soldiers in Normandy, landing on the beaches, climbing the cliffs, or parachuting from the skies.
A Praying Nation
In New York, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia led his city in prayer: “We, the people of the City of New York . . . send forth our prayers to the Almighty God for the safety and spiritual welfare of every one of you and humbly petition Him to bring total victory to your arms in the great and valiant struggle for the liberation of the world from tyranny.”
In Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell was struck for the first time in more than 100 years to announce, in a nationwide broadcast, the Allied invasion which, if successful, would liberate millions from Nazi rule.
Photographers took thousands of pictures of Americans at prayer that day. In one, a well-dressed woman, surrounded by glowing candles, kneels at St. Vincent de Paul Church in New York. Another image shows Jewish Americans praying in a synagogue. Yet another image shows a sign in a novelty store window reading, “Sorry, no covered buttons today. We are praying for the success of the invasion.”
Perhaps the most memorable prayer came that evening from the lips of President Franklin Roosevelt who, instead of giving one of his usual fireside chats, invited the American people to join him in prayer. He’d had copies of it released to the press ahead of time so Americans could read it along with him. It’s said to be the biggest mass prayer in history.
Humility in the White House
“Almighty God,” Roosevelt prayed, “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 . . .
“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 . . .
“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 . . .
“Thy will be done, Almighty God.”
As Newsweek columnist Lee Habeeb explains, “Roosevelt understood . . . that it would take more than just a mobilization of our industrial power to beat back the forces of Hitler. In this address to the nation, he hoped to harness our spiritual power too.”
More than 100 million people around the globe, from Americans listening in their living rooms to Europeans huddled around illegal, hidden radios, thrilled to Roosevelt’s words. Among them was Anne Frank, who listened the president’s prayer in an Amsterdam attic. His words, as she told her diary, gave her hope.
Faith, Love, and Care
The broadcast of Roosevelt’s prayer took place at 10 p.m. Eastern time. By then, many Americans, including my grandparents, had nearly exhausted themselves in prayer. My mother’s teenage brother—her parents’ only son–was a Marine fighting the Japanese; her sister’s husband, who’d survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, was serving as a Navy radioman. My paternal aunt’s husband, an Army Cryptographic Security Officer, was serving in North Africa. My seventeen-year-old father—his parents’ only son–would soon be drafted. Both sets of grandparents desperately wanted the war to end. They knew victory in France would likely help bring about the end of the carnage.
It’s impossible to know, this side of Heaven, the full effect of millions of people asking God to protect our soldiers. Did these prayers really make any difference?
A column written by Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle, who visited the now-bloodied beaches of Normandy on June 7, suggests they made an incredible difference.
“With every advantage on the enemy’s side and every disadvantage on our,” Pyle writes, the total Allied casualties “were remarkably low—only a fraction, in fact, of what our commanders had been prepared to accept.
“Now that it is all over,” he added, “It seems to me a pure miracle that we ever took the beach at all . . .In this special sector where I am now, our troops faced such odds that our getting ashore was like my whipping Joe Louis down to a pulp.”
Today, U.S. troops serve all over the world—from Belgium to Bahrain, from Poland to Portugal, from the UK to the United Arab Emirates. How often do we pray for them, and for their families? Do we send care packages and letters to soldiers serving overseas, or help build housing for badly injured soldiers? Do we donate to organizations that help those who return home with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, such as Samaritan’s Purse and Joni and Friends, which offer getaways for veterans and their families?
On June 6, the eighty-first anniversary of one of the most significant battles ever fought, we should pause to remember the sacrifice of our D-Day soldiers—and all the other soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who gave up their lives for the sake of freedom. And then we should send up our prayers — on a regular basis — for the health and safety of those who serve today.
Anne Morse is a freelance writer living in Maryland amidst towering piles of books.