Brookwood American Cemetery Chapel Dedication in 1937

NARRATOR:  The chapel to the memory of the American soldiers who died in Great Britain during the World War is dedicated by the American Battle Monuments Commission.   Marble crosses commemorate the 468 soldiers who rest in this cemetery.   Ambassador Bingham heads the parade of distinguished American visitors and veterans marching to honor their fallen comrades.  The American flag, which flies in this cemetery, now waves over soil that is forever American.   Ambassador Bingham and General Hill, the Honorable Alfred Duff Cooper, First Lord of the British Admiralty, and Colonel Woodside, the Vice Chairman of the Commission, speak in that order.

AMBASSADOR BINGHAM:  They gave their all to the highest of ideals.  For they and their vast host of comrades crossed the Atlantic and plunged into the hideous war in Europe to preserve freedom, justice, humanity, and democracy, which was their age long tradition, and to aid the other great democracies, to bring to an agonized world, enduring peace.  If at last they must rest so far from home, I believe they choose to rest here.

GENERAL HILL: This Brookwood is not only a glorious extension of America, but an extension of Belgium, France and America in England for the peace of the world.

HONORABLE ALFRED DUFF COOPER:  It is a great honor for an Englishman to take part in this ceremony today, and to be allowed to join his voice to those of the distinguished representatives of the United States in paying homage to the heroic dead.  In the uncertain and dangerous times in which we live, well so much is fluid and so little fixed, there is one thing of which we can be supremely and serenely confident, and that is the good relationship that exists between the United States and the British Empire.  There can be no greater cause in the world than the cause of peace.  But it would be a poor world to live in, when a man’s life would be hardly worth living, unless there was some cause in which he was prepared to die.

COLONEL WOODSIDE:  In assembling here on this sacred soil today, we to bring remembrance those who made the supreme sacrifice for the cause of liberty, justice and democracy.  And we do now set apart and dedicate this chapel to the glory of god in loving remembrance these our honored to dead who gave their lives in the service of their country.  May the blessing of the eternal god rest upon us that it may be a piece of comfort, rest, and prayer.