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Speeches

I was surprised to find we don’t have a speeches thread.

I’ll start this thread with nice oration from CO QRH, someone can top it up with Churchill et al.

'War Is Not A Game': Army Officer Gives Rousing Boxing Night Speech


You hear professional athletes talk about the sports field like it's the battlefield. But for me, I think we need to be careful with that."

"When we go to war as the Queen's Royal Hussars, we don't know how long we'll go for.

"We'll fight an enemy that won't play by the rules. There will be no umpire, there will be no referee.

"When we go, it won't be about scoring goals or points, it's going to be about life or death."

"We're going for the highest possible reasons, which will be to defend our nation, to defend our national interests, to defend the things that we think are important about the way we live our lives.

"So sport isn't war, and war is certainly not a game.

"However, sport is a great way to train some of the things we need to do to be good at warfare - and boxing is the ultimate sport for doing that."
 
Well for fucks sake, don't all rush in at once.

Not sure this is the best speech in the history of the world, but it isn't bad, and has a lot worth listening to.



...and in the same vein of graduation speeches, this one is awesome:

 
Churchill’s first as PM.

I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering.

You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs – Victory in spite of all terrors – Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.
 
Well for fucks sake, don't all rush in at once.

As luck would have it, I have a whole folder of speeches on my media player.

The St Crispian's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry V, portrayed by Dear Dear Kenny. (We few, we happy few, we Band of Brothers). I believe this was quoted by the senior RAF officer in the Gulf on the first day of Desert Storm.




The "real" Band of Brothers speech. With some success, a German General and his men try to snatch some dignity form the jaws of utter, utter defeat at the end of WWII.




Bizarre song that was supposedly based on an actual American graduation speech, but wasn't




President John F. Kennedy's We choose to go to the moon speech declaring that America would send men to the moon within 10 years. Heralded the start of the Apollo project and one of the greatest periods of technological advancement in human history (and not just non-stick frying pans - if you've ever endured the horrors of state space control theory, you can blame NASA and JFK for much of that).

 
I recall with absolute clarity the speech made by SQMS Williams on day one of trade training at St Omer in 1967.

"You will be tried and tested, pushed to your limits by the unknowing, uncaring and unloved rabble to whom you provide sustenance. But be strong, be vigilant, be brave and say to those who test you "Oy c**t, one sausage!"
 
On the 28th May 1940, the war cabinet was divided as to what to do about Hitler. The Army had been defeated and was trapped at Dunkirk, and France looked set to fall. Churchill had only been PM for a couple of weeks, but he needed to break the deadlock.

He adjourned the war cabinet to address a meeting of all 25 ministers of the outer cabinet and delivered a speech that was pivotal in convincing them that Britain should fight. The speech was met with a standing ovation and silenced any further opposition to continuing the war. This speech, apparently delivered off the cuff and only recorded because Hugh Dalton wrote it down, changed the course of history.

I have thought carefully in these last days whether it was part of my duty to consider entering into negotiations with That Man. But it was idle to think that, if we tried to make peace now, we should get better terms than if we fought it out. The Germans would demand our – that would be called disarmament – our naval bases, and much else. We should become a slave state, though a British Government which would be Hitler's puppet would be set up – under Mosley or some such person. And where should we be at the end of all that? On the other side we have immense reserves and advantages. And I am convinced that every one of you would rise up and tear me down from my place if I were for one moment to contemplate parley or surrender. If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.
 
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