look of worry that had been lining it since he had arrived in the room disappearing for a moment as he gave her a watery smile of connection. ‘Yes, that’s right. That’s the attitude we want. Well done. Good girl.’
Julia felt relieved. She’d felt a little bit insubordinate being honest. Still, she could see that she’d seemed to bolster him with her words.
He nodded at her, and then started to dictate: ‘When I said in the House of Commons the other day that I thought it was improbable that the enemy’s attack could be more than three times greater than it was in August, I was not, of course, referring to barbarous attacks upon the civil population, but to the great air battle which is being fought between our fighters and the German air force.’
He then went on to outline what the British forces were doing to combat the onslaught of Hitler, informing everybody how the Nazi invasion of England was proceeding, with hundreds of self-propelled barges moving down the coast of Europe from German and Dutch harbours towards the ports of northern France and to Dunkirk and Brest and beyond.
Julia felt her chest tighten as she typed the reality of those words.
‘Behind these clusters of ships or barges, there stand very large numbers of German troops, awaiting the order to go on board and set out on their very dangerous and uncertain voyage across the sea,’ he continued in his rolling, booming tone. ‘We cannot tell when they will try to come; we cannot be sure that in fact they will try at all; but no one should blind himself to the fact that a heavy, full-scale invasion of this island is being prepared with all the usual German thoroughness and method, and it may be launched now – upon England, upon Scotland, or upon Ireland, or upon all three.’
Julia swallowed down the fear as she continued to type his message, realizing once again the significance of the time they were living in. It wasn’t that she hadn’t known beforehand that they’d been at war, even without bombs dropping on bases and watching the Spitfire pilots in the air, but it had felt somehow removed from her, with the constant waiting and preparation during the ‘phoney war’. Now, somehow, it felt more real and as if, at any moment, the barges he talked about could be sailing across the sea, from any number of ports, to attack the British people.
He continued and then said in a low whisper, ‘Every man,’ and then stopping and catching her eye and acknowledging her with a slight smile, ‘and woman, will therefore prepare himself to do his duty, whatever that may be, with special pride and care.’ He nodded at Julia then, apparently remembering the words she had said to him, he paused again and stared at the floor, collecting his thoughts. ‘Little does he know the spirit of the British nation…’
Julia found herself nodding as she typed.
‘… or the tough fibre of the Londoners whose forebears played a leading part in the establishment of the parliamentary institutions, and who have been bred to value freedom far above their lives.’
Julia felt proud. She was one of the Londoners he was talking about, and yes, they may have to get to a place where they would value their freedom above their lives. All at once, she knew she was prepared to do that. They all had to be if they were going to get this job done. As she continued to type his words, she was struck by the next line.
‘What he has done is kindle a fire in British hearts, here and all over the world, which will glow long after all the traces of the conflagration he has caused in London have been removed. He has lighted a fire which will burn with a steady and consuming flame until the last vestiges of Nazi tyranny have been burned out of Europe, until the Old World – and the New – can join hands to build the temples of man’s freedom and man’s honour, upon foundations which will not soon or easily be overthrown. This is a time for everyone to stand together, and hold firm, as they are doing.’
He continued offering his admiration and thanks to the fire services and the different work people were doing to maintain order in London before finishing up his speech.
‘But that we shall rather draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration, survival,