"My grandfather Winston Churchill died fifty years ago, today.

It was a long time ago – part of history. But history is never quite done and dusted.
The seeds of the past keep sprouting out in new ways today.
When the Berlin Wall came down 25 years ago we all sighed with relief…the Cold War was over. Since my grandfather’s famous iron curtain speech here in Fulton so many years before, history had come full circle. 

Or so we thought.

People ask ‘what would your grandfather say about the events of today in 2015?’
Well, we cannot say what he would have said or done.
He was a law unto himself.
But we can say that he knew his history and he knew his geography.
He didn’t need to consult the map to name the countries of the Middle East or to find out where they were situated.
Actually he situated quite a few of them himself.
But I’m quite sure of one thing:
He would have seen it all coming.
In fact he did see it all coming a very long time ago and warned of the many coming problems.
But as with the build up to World War II, no one was listening.

When will we ever learn?

As Winston Churchill said:

‘The farther backward you can look.
The farther forward you can see.’”

-The Honorable Edwina Sandys

Remarks at America’s Service of Remembrance
Winston Churchill 1874 – 1965
National Churchill Museum at Westminster College
Fulton, Missouri
24 January 2015