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The war has come to America as well as the other United Nations ... [[strikethrough]] a week ago today [[/strikethrough]]  The bombing of Pearl Harbor a week ago today was a great shock to all of us, now that the first shock is over, we gather our strength together & fight to the victory. Now I want [[strikethrough]] to take this opportunity [[/strikethrough]] to say a few words about [[strikethrough]] a [[?]] [[/strikethrough]] my people who are today, and will be in the dark days ahead of us, your ally in a fight-to-the-death against the enemies of democracy. [[strikethrough]] I want to talk about [[illegible]]. We are should be [[illegible]] to be fighting on the side of a [[/strikethrough]] our people whose courage and persistence in the face of overwhelming odds has been proved to [[strikethrough]] us [[[/strikethrough]] you. For more than four long years, the men, women and children of China have been fighting the fight that has only begun for [[strikethrough]] us [[/strikethrough]] you For more than four years [[strikethrough]] the [[/strikethrough]] my people [[strikethrough]] of China [[/strikethrough]] have been suffering as no people in this horrible war have suffered. Fifty million [[strikethrough]] of these [[/strikethrough]] people were uprooted from their homes [[strikethrough]] four years ago [[/strikethrough]] when the Japanese marched into the coastal provinces, [[strikethrough]] and today many thousands of them still are sleeping where they can, eating where what they can, thankful that life is given to them to go on another day. Many thousands of [[/strikethrough]] these brave people not only are homeless, but they are hungry. They have been bombed unmercifully. Yet not once have they hesitated. Not once have they shown fear nor weakness.

[[strikethrough]] China fights on . . . . . and it is up to us to do more than just cheer. [[/strikethrough]] Now that the Far Eastern war has engulfed the United States, we can no longer fail to recognize the part that China has played during the past four years in defending America's vital interests in the Pacific. [[/strikethrough]]

Today we are fighting side by side [[strikethrough]] with the Chinese [[/strikethrough]] against a common foe. [[strikethrough]] The defense of the Burma Road is as important to the security of America as is the defense of Pearl Harbor and of Sandy Hook. For we know now that China's fight is your fight, and that if China can stay on her feet, and prolong the masterful resistance that she has made for four years, Japan will collapse far sooner than if you [[strikethrough]] we [[/strikethrough]] you alone had to face this enemy. [[/strikethrough]]