US : For Whom Does the Bell Toll? D Day

The Liberty Bell ~

Seventy - seven years ago  the Liberty Bell was struck -- not rung, but struck, or tapped.

 It has not been heard since.

It was June 6, 1944. As the Allies were invading the Normandy coast of France, our famous Liberty Bell was tapped with a mallet, and the most advanced sound equipment available in the 1940's broadcast the tone to all parts of our nation.

The message was clear. The Allies had begun their crucial move against German-held Europe. It was time to "proclaim liberty" and pray fervently for our men in uniform.

The Bell had not been rung since 1835. And it was struck (tapped) only once -- D-Day, 1944. Since then, silence in the bell tower.

But Before That.....

On July 4, 1776, the draft of the Declaration of Independence was signed by John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, and by Charles Thomson of Pennsylvania, Secretary.

It was decided to have the document "engrossed," (scripted on fine parchment) and copies to be sent by messengers to all the colonies.

Traditionally, even as early as 1777, July 4 has been celebrated as the birthday of our nation.




On July 8, the document was read in Philadelphia, and the Liberty Bell, as well as all the church bells, was rung to announce its adoption by the Congress.
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On July 9 it was read in New York City before Washington and his troops. 

By August 2, fifty of the members of Congress had signed, representing all the colonies, and so the word "unanimous" was inserted in the title, making the revised wording to be:

The unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen united States of America.






The names of the signers were kept secret for some months.

(You might remember that the penalty for treason against the King of England, George III, was a horrible bloody death -- the poor man accused was to be dragged to the place selected for hanging...he was to be hung until almost dead, and then revived, his intestines were to be cut out of his body and they were to be burned in front of him. Then the unfortunate man was to be beheaded, and his body cut into four portions and carried to the four corners of the kingdom.) 

About the Liberty Bell....

The Bell had been cast in England in 1752. The colony of Pennsylvania paid for it (it cost about $300), and named it the "Old State House Bell."

In 1753 it cracked and was re-cast from the same metal, with the famous biblical inscription, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" (Leviticus 25:10) inscribed again.

It was rung each year on July 8 until 1835 when it cracked. In 1839 the name was changed to the "Liberty Bell."

I wonder. Probably somewhere in this country, there should be a recording of the sound the Bell made when it was "struck" in 1944 to unite the prayers of this nation in support of its young men, engaged in another war for independence, not just for the United States of America, but to "proclaim liberty throughout the land" for the freedom of other countries throughout the world. I would love to hear it.

The D-Day invasion of France was the largest amphibious invasion of all time. And probably the most dangerous. There were 9,000 casualties.


No, freedom is not free.

Did any of those young men on June 6, 1944, even dream that within a year, in large measure due to their sacrifice, the war would be over, at least in Europe? And that generations of people throughout the world would be saved from the cruel tyranny of Nazism?

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price on its goods, and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.

-- From The Crisis, by Thomas Paine





P.S. An old traditional German custom was to ring the village bell during a thunderstorm. It was supposed to ward off evil spirits.

But a book published in 1784 reported that in the previous 35 years, lightning had struck 386 German churches and killed at least 103 bellringers, making "village bell ringing" a pretty hazardous occupation!


P.S.#2: I remember a thoughtful poem we read in high school. It was For Whom the Bell Tolls by John Donne.

We don't use the word "tolls" much any more. And I guess maybe we don't read many of his poems much anymore. He was also a preacher and some of his sermons are published for us to read. He wrote these words as a meditation, not as a poem.

But they are remembered today as a poem:



No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main,.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.


It is beautiful to picture the image here. Simple farm people, scattered over the countryside, working in their gardens, would hear the slow, somber tolling of the church bell and know that someone had died. They would drop their tools, bow their heads and pray. They would likely send a youngster to the village and ask "For Whom the Bell Tolled."




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