Winston Churchill

Watch and listen to Winston Churchill's appeal on behalf of the RAF Benevolent Fund.

Transcript: The Debt We Owe - Winston Churchill

Never in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many to so few. With those words in 1940, our darkest and yet our finest hour, I reported to the House of Commons on the progress of the Battle of Britain.

Had it not been for those young men, whose daring and devotion cast a glittering shield between us and our foe, we should none of us be sitting at rest in our homes this Sunday evening, as members of an unconquered and, as we believe, unconquerable nation.

Let us all welcome this chance to pay a small measure of the debt we owe to the paladins of the Royal Air Force and I will tell you one thing we can do, and do now. I'm appealing to you tonight on behalf of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.

This fund exists solely to help members of the Royal Air Force; men and women in time of need, and their families or dependents when they are in trouble.

The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund is part of the conscience of the British nation. A nation without a conscience is a nation without a soul. A nation without a soul is a nation that cannot live.

Winston Churchill