World War II has numerous examples of a nation at prayer. Perhaps the most famous instance of prayer in the troops was a circulated prayer by General George Patton in December, 1942. In the interview with Chaplain Brigadier General James H. O’Neill, General Patton confided,
Chaplain, I am a strong believer in prayer…We were lucky in Africa, in Sicily, and in Italy, simply because people prayed. But we have to pray for ourselves, too. A good soldier is not made merely by making him think and work. There is something in every soldier that goes deeper than thinking or working.—it’s his ‘guts.’ It is something that he has built in there: it is a world of truth and power that is higher than himself. Great living is not all output of thought and work. A man has to have intake as well. I don’t know what you call it, but I call it Religion, Prayer, or God…We’ve got to get not only the chaplains but every man in the Third Army to pray. We must ask God to stop these rains. These rains are the margin that holds defeat or victory…I believe that prayer completes the circuit. It is power.*
*Chaplain James H. O’Neill. 1948. The True Story of the Patton Prayer. The Military Chaplain. Vol. 19, No. 2, p. 2.
