Dawn breaks over the English countryside. Birds greet the morning with song, while milk cows in the distant fields low softly…Once these sounds would have heralded a peaceful day, but this is the summer of 1940 and the island nation is in the grips of war--the Battle of Britain. A woman riding her bicycle, hearing the roar of approaching aircraft, stops to gaze upward. She watches Spitfires from 92 Squadron streak across the sky, determined to search out and destroy the fighters and bombers of Hitler's Luftwaffe. Silently the woman offers up a prayer… Through its rich, warm colors and delicate use of light and shading, Phillips' image implicitly conveys a lasting message of hope.