Predicting war

Dear Editor,

As a child, I met Mrs. Mary Roach and her daughter, Kathleen. She told me what she remembered about growing up in the South in the Reconstruction Period after the Civil War.

It was 1940. They were our neighbors in Denver. I visited her often and watched her roll out the dough for her delicious pies. She was in her 80s. Her mind was clear and concise. Her small radio was nearly always tuned to the daily news about World War II.

In 1945, she passed away about the same time as Franklin D. Roosevelt.

"The United States will enter the war and Winston Churchill will save us all," she announced to me one day. Sadly, I was only 8 and did not comprehend everything she said.

Gradually, in the years that have followed, I have gained understanding of her statements. I have come to admire Winston Churchill (1874-1965). He forsaw that Russia would retain control of a block of countries in Eastern Europe. He described this as "an iron curtain" falling over them.

England and France declared war against Germany in 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland. King George VI of England asked Churchill to become England's prime minister in 1940 after a debate in Parliament with Neville Chamberlain. Japan and Italy had become agressors.

When bombing raids came, Churchill risked his own life to check on his people's welfare. He said that he "had nothing to give but blood, toil, sweat and tears."

Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 1953 and the United States made him an honorary citizen in 1963. This was quite an achievement for a person who was a poor student in his early years and stuttered.

His father, Sir. Randolph Churchill, sent him to military school because he thought his son would end up being a "common foot soldier."

Too bad. He died in 1895 and never saw Winston reach his potential.

Helen Ruth Arnold,

McCook