‘The Few’ 70 years on.

Today, at 15.52BST to be precise, marks the 70th Anniversary of the famous ‘So Few’ speech from Sir Winston Churchill as he paid tribute to the RAF as they threw everything they had against the mighty Luftwaffe in The Battle of Britain.

To commemorate this anniversary, the speech will be replayed outside Churchill’s war-time bunker in Whitehall, at 1552 BST – precisely 70 years since Churchill stood up to give the address in Parliament. It will be followed shortly afterwards by a Spitfire and Hurricane fly-past over Whitehall.

In his speech that day, Churchill encapsulated the heroism of the RAF Fighter Command and the gratitude of a nation in one memorable, succinct sentence…

Never in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many to so few.

Victory in The Battle of Britain almost definitely put pay to a Nazi invasion of our island, without air superiority such an invasion would never have been successful. So, today, 70 years on from that remarkable speech, let us quietly say thank you to those 3000 or so RAF boys (and girls)who did so much for us…there are not many of them left now, they are fading quickly, but let us make sure that their memories and their brave deeds live on.

They should not be forgotten.

 

A full transcript of Churchill’s famous speech can be seen here. Also, the BBC has a wonderful microsite dedicated to all things Battle of Britain.