THANK you for publishing my letter on Dunkirk in your edition August 23, 2017.

Sadly, your paper omitted the key fact.

On Thursday, May 23, 1940, King George VI called for the coming Sunday, May 26, 1940, to be a National Day of Prayer.

Many thousands responded to that and the grace and salvation flowed as a result.

I understand in our modern society where the norm is not to ‘do God’, how this slippage could have occurred.

The film, although excellent in many ways, and hugely enjoyed by myself and my two friends, also omitted this history changing day, immediately before the evacuation began.

Let us not forget or diminish the vital part that prayer played and went on to play!

After the awesome rescue of so many men from Northern France, the King and Parliament went on to call a further six days of National Prayer during WW2.

Two more days of prayer were in 1940 as Britain then endured the might of the German Reich attempting to conquer what was by then a lone voice in the wilderness.

A fourth day followed in March 1941, when Hitler again launched an invasion and the cinemas were used to get the message out that God Saves when we turn to him with all our heart.

We were delivered from a second 1066 experience without doubt, as the miracles continued.

The following three days of National Prayer effectively went on to turn the hunted into hunters, then victors with the liberation of Europe ensuing.

One popular hymn evoked the spirit of faith working behind the scenes then “O God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home”.

Here’s to God’s Blessings on our future!

Elaine Venning

Stroud