The Churchill Series - Jun. 26, 2006

(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Fair warning: today’s post's source is the top of my head.

You know Churchill paid attention to details. Remember from an earlier series post the time he stopped his motorcade as it passed a large, abandoned green house? Some of the structure's glass panes were broken; but many were not. Churchill directed the unbroken panes be stored where they could be easily retrieved. The UK's cities were surely going to be bombed soon. They'd be many shattered windows; replacement glass would be a much needed item.

Other details that always draw Churchill's attention included the names of military operations. When Churchill learned of the name of an operation he would sometimes immediately interrupt whoever was explaining it and ask why it had received the name it had. If he didn't think the name appropriate, he'd argue for a change. Sometimes he just ordered one.

One operation name Churchill thought very appropriate was Torch, the name for the joint Anglo-American invasion of North Africa in November, 1942. He suggested it himself.

Churchill said Torch was the best word and symbol to convey what the allies were doing: bringing the light of freedom to a Nazi dominated part of the world. He requested a logo with two hands holding up a torch; they represented British and American forces jointly pursuing the same objective.

Selecting Torch as the operation name was an inspired and inspiring choice.

Beyond what I know Churchill said in urging Torch as the operation's name, I wonder if he wasn't also thinking Torch would resonate with Americans whose Lady Liberty held a torch to light the way to freedom, and with the French whose eternal flame serves a similar symbolic purpose.

I can't be sure Churchill thought of Lady Liberty and the eternal flame but I bet he did. Not much escapes a man who looks at a broken and abandoned greenhouse, and sees something very valuable.