The Pittsburgh Press (December 26, 1943)
Armed Forces’ deeds praised by Roosevelt
President and aides send greetings to women, men in uniform
Washington (UP) – (Dec. 25)
Today brought Christmas greetings to the Armed forces by President Roosevelt and to the Army by high-ranking Army officials.
President Roosevelt to the men and women of the Armed Forces:
This Christmas I feel a sense of deep humility before the great courage of the men and women of our Armed Forces. As your Commander-in-Chief, I send my greetings with pride in your heroic accomplishments.
President Roosevelt to the ill and wounded of the Armed Forces:
The uncomplaining gallantry of our American soldier and sailor in his quiet, patient battle against illness and aching wound is no less epic than his uncompromising gallantry in his more widely heralded fight against the Axis… May God speed your recovery.
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson:
Your deeds on the battlefield have been an inspiration to millions of your countrymen… Throughout America the light of Christmas burns brightly in remembrance of you and in prayers for your return. God grant that your hands may be strengthened to hasten the day of final victory.
Gen. George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff:
Christmas this year finds our Army deployed in greatly increased strength throughout the world, an army of battle-tested veterans. Victories, some of them great victories, are constantly being won in the air, on the ground, and over the beaches of the Aleutians, the Far Pacific and the Mediterranean… All America is filled with pride in the feats of the Army with pride in the feats of the Army… God bless you all.
Gen. Henry H. Harold, Army Air Forces commander:
The coming year will bring the most decisive days of our time, the most decisive of centuries to come, perhaps. I am fully confident that you are equal to the challenge.
King George speaks
London, England (UP) – (Dec. 25)
King George VI, in his annual Christmas Day broadcast to the British Empire, warned today that harder fighting than ever before lies ahead before final victory and “the bright visions of the future” can be achieved.
He said:
As we were not downcast by defeat, we are not unduly exalted by victory. While we have bright visions of the future, we have no easy dreams of the days that lie close at hand.
We know there is much hard work and hard fighting, perhaps harder work and harder fighting than ever before, necessary for victory. We shall not rest from our task until it is nobly ended.
Chungking, China (UP) – (Dec. 25)
Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell, U.S. commander in this theater, called on his men in a Christmas message today to make the forthcoming blow against the enemy “crippling and decisive.”
Chiang broadcasts
Chungking, China (UP) – (Dec. 25)
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, in a Christmas broadcast to China’s war wounded, expressed confidence today that military successes already achieved have brought the Allies nearer their goal – the existence of all nations on an equal footing.
He said:
As officers and men imbued with the revolutionary spirit, we should be prepared to shed our last drop of blood on the cross as did Jesus Christ, thereby cleansing the world of all evils and building up a new world of equality and freedom.
Goebbels rants
By the United Press
Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels, in a Christmas message to the German people, declared that the Allied would become aware of the strength and determination of the German people to win the war “perhaps even before spring, on the field of battle.”
Goebbels, who did not indicate whether he was thinking of the possibility of an Allied invasion or new German offensives, asserted that “the whole German ration is thinking only of victory.”