The last tank (the 15,224th) rolled from the Assembly Line on April 17th. It was a job well done and offers a challenge to the one that lies ahead; for there can be no let-up from our labors until the last shot is fired and the Peace is won. You men have built reliability into the tanks that have gone out from these shops and you may well be proud of your accomplishment.
Berwick-built tanks have fought on every battlefield in this global war. They were with the British Eighth Army in the earliest days of desert fighting in Libya; with General Mongomery's troops in their historic pursuit of Rommel in his 1500 miles' flight across Africa; and leading the victorious Eighth Army in it's triumphal march into Tripoli. They joined the first American Forces with the British in North Africa after the Casablanca landing and were storming the beaches at Salerno. In the Pacific, they landed with the Marines on Guadalcanal in the Solomons, on Buna, New Guinea, and served with the Aussies in the Land Down Under. High up in the Arctic Circle they fought in the Aleutians; with the Russians in the Caucasus before Stalingrad; and in Brazil, they helped to guard the gateway to the South Atlantic.
The tanks that you have built here in Berwick are now gathering all over the world in preparation for the D-Day that will dawn; with Eisenhower getting ready to storm the fortress that is Europe, and with MacArthur in his march to the Philippines and on to Tokyo. YOUR TASK OF BUILDING THESE TANKS IS ENDED BUT ANOTHER JOB LIES DEFINITELY AHEAD; TO BUILD THE NEW EQUIPMENT THAT WILL BLAZE THE TRAILS AND SMOOTH OUT THE TROUBLED PATHS TO PEACE.
Now let me express my personal appreciation for the part you have played in our success to date and request continuation of your co-operation in the future.
