finest hour

Winston Churchill proclaimed today to his Parliament and people the beginning of "the battle for Britain". . . . "Let us brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say: ‘This was their finest hour.’"

Commonwealth countries were called upon to rise to their finest hour against the double crises of Rhodesia and global poverty.

The U.S. exulted 40 years ago when it brought its three Apollo 13 astronauts back safely from a disaster in space. Early Wednesday morning, Chile . . . can celebrate its own finest hour as it rescues its 33 miners from the abyss.