Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-05-10
SPIRES OF THE SPIRIT
No White Flag
BY DIR. FREDERICK BROWN HARRIS
Chaplain Of the United states Senate

Again the valiant captain
who forever Is the symbol Of
mo surrender" has slept in
the White House and treads
American soil-his mothers
native land. The free world
Is what II Is today largely
because. In a supreme hour
OF testing, winston Churchill
did not include a white fiag
In the arms he modified 10
meet the German rain OF FIRE.
The odds seemed hopeless 10
mere logic and logistics. But.
scofiing at confident and ar
rogant Hitler announcing the
date for the invasion OF Eng
land and the capture OF
London. the dauntless Prime
Minister cried out In def
ance. I'VE shall fight on the
beaches. We shall fight ON
the landing grounds, In the
fields, In the streets. We shall
fight in the hills. and we will
never surrender. II the Brit
ish Empire lasts for a thou
sand years men will say. this
was its finest hour"
And so 1t came to pass In
the darkest hour Of World
War II, when the prospect
was "black as the pit from
pole to pole" Churchill cleo
trifled the embattled British
as. with the magic wizardry
Of words. potent as planes,
he kept men on their feet,
while those anonymous ca
giles Of the air. vastly out
numbered, held back the
threat to civilization, giving
us in America precious time
to prepare to defend our own
freedom and now the free
dom Of the world.
Victory was snatched out
Of what seemed like inevi-
table defeat because there
was no white flag to wave.
1t was that same philosophy
of action which prompted a
gallant American, General
McAuliffe, when his troops
were entirely surrounded by
the swaStika battalions and
there seemed nothing left
but the white flag, to send
back as the official reply to
the Nazi demand for sur
render, one word which will
live in history. "Nuts!"
The Good Book makes no
promise that he who keeps
on for a while will conquer.
1t declares that he who en-
dureth to the end will be
saved-saved from frustra-
ton and defeat. Churchill's
winged words mirror the Sc
cret Of those who across the
long years have subdued
kingdoms, wrought right
eousnesS and put to fight
the armies of aliens who
thought their sure victory
was near.
The valiant carry no white
flag in case the battle goes
against them. In the fury of
every fight there are likely
to come low moods of weari-
ness, Encouragement and
establishment. The chances
seem all against success. The
temptation is to vote on the
affirmative side of Resolved,
the quest is futile and the
sensible thing to do is to
quit" In such an hour all
depends on whether the
cornered one can summon the
will to march on, to fight on,
to disregard appearances, to
defy the charging foe for
what wellington called, 1.-THE
five minutes more" In the
darkest hours of our Ameri-
can Revolution there were
some very outstanding citi-
zens who advised Washing
ton to raise the white flag
and to get from the British
the best terms he could. But
that brave patriot, having
set his hand to the independ-
ence pillow, knew that even
under the most adverse cir
cumstances, if one as much
as looked back he was not fit
for the kingdom of freedom.
And so even amid the agony
of Valley Forge the command
was, mo white flag. Fight
on"