“We are with you sir!”
to General Montgomery in North Africa during WWII. Montgomery was standing on the back of a truck making one of his rousing speeches to the troops before they went into battle against the Axis forces. At some point his gaze fell on Harry Secombe who was standing at the front. Harry was a Bombardier in the Artillery, covered in boils, had his glasses broken in several places and put back together with sticky tape, and wore an ill fitting uniform for his rotund shape. Montgomery's speech ground to an awkward silence as he examined his soldier who was beaming up at him. With a huge grin and a salute, Harry filled the void with a cry of "We are with you sir!", to which the troops cheered and Montgomery replied "um, good", before continuing
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Harry Secombe 4
British entertainer 1921–2001Related quotes
“And you, old sir, we are told you prospered once.”
XXIV. 543 (tr. R. Lattimore); Achilles to Priam.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)
Sergeant Barret and Major Richard Sharpe, p. 273
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Honor (1985)
Advice given to Dean John William Burgon, (29 November 1847), in response to the question: "Every studious man, in the course of a long and thoughtful life, has had occasion to experience the special value of some one axiom or precept. Would you mind giving me the benefit of such a word of advice?"; quoted in Lives of twelve good men, by John William Burgon, 1888, vol. 1 p. 73.
“Then, Sir, we will give them the bayonet!”
Reply to Colonel Barnard E. Bee when he reported that the enemy were beating them back. At the First Battle of Bull Run (21 July 1861); as quoted in Stonewall Jackson As Military Commander (2000) by John Selby, p. 21
asked Hezekiah.
“Just fighting over old battles in my mind,” said John. “It’s the problem with age. You have all these rusty arguments, and no quarrel to use them in. My brain is a museum, but alas, I’m the only visitor, and even I am not terribly interested in the displays.”
Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Heartfire (1998), Chapter 11.
Colonel Michel Dubreton (French Army) and Major Richard Sharpe, p. 80
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Enemy (1984)
“Uxbridge: By God, sir, I've lost my leg!
Wellington: By God, sir, so you have!”
Exchange said to have occurred at the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), after Lord Uxbridge lost his leg to a cannonball; as quoted in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)
Variant account:
Uxbridge: I have lost my leg, by God!
Wellington: By God, and have you!
Thomas Hardy, in The Dynasts, Pt. III Act VII, scene viii, portraying the incident.
