White House Press Release, Address by President Harry S. Truman

HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE September 1, 1945 CONFIDINTIAN The following address to be broadcast by the President from the White House to the members of the United States Armed Forces, MUST BE HELD IN CONFIDENCE until the President begins speaking. NOTE: Release is expected at 9:19 P,M., E.W.T., Sunday, September 2, 1945. The same release applies to radio announcers and news commentators. CAUTION: Extreme care MUST BE USED to prevent premature publication. CHARLES. G. ROSS Secretary to the President I am speaking to you, the armed forces of the United States, as I did after V Day in Europe, at a high moment of history. The war, to which we have devoted all the resources and all the energy of our country for more than three and a half years, has now produced total victory over all our enemies. This is a time for great rejoicing and a time for solemn contemplation. With the destructive force of war re- moved from the world, we can turn now to the grave task of preserving the peace which you gallant men and women have won. PRUMARY It is a task which requires our most urgent attention. It is NARA one in which we must collaborate with our allies and the other nations of the world. They are as determined as we are that war must be abolished from the earth, if the earth, as we know it, is to remain. Civilization cannot survive another total war. I think you know what is in the hearts of your country- men on this night. They are thousands of miles away from most of you. Yet they are close to you in deep gratitude and in a solemn sense of obligation. They remember - and I know they will never forget - those who have gone from among you, those who are maimed, those who, thank God, are still safe after years of fighting and suffering and danger. And I know that in this hour of victory their thoughts - like yours - are with your departed Commander-in-Chief, Franklin D. Roosevelt. This is the hour for which he so gallantly fought and so bravely died. I think I know the American soldier and sailor. He does not want gratitude or sympathy. He had a job to do. He did not like it. But he did it. And how he did it! Now, he wants to come back home and start again the life he loves - a life of peace and quiet, the life of the civil- ian. But he wants to know that he can come back to a good life. He wants to know that his children will not have to go back to the life of the fox-hole and the bomber, the battleship and the submarine. I speak in bchalf of all your countrymen when I pledge you that we shall do overything in our power to make those wishes come true. (OVER)