Christmas at Wartime

That was wonderful, Salty. Thanks for sharing it.

 

Christmas Truce

I had not read that before but I did quote Anderson from an interview not long before his death in my book on the Christmas truce:

...This was the world of the soldier during those months
in 1914 leading up to Christmas.
They endured rain and mud for weeks, living in the
presence of never-ending death. Rats and lice and
gangrene accompanied them in their trenches. Cannon
bursts, incessant shooting, and night flares made
sleep fleeting. Alfred Anderson, a soldier of eighteen
at that time, remembered it a year before his death
at the age of 109. “All I'd heard for two months in the
trenches was the hissing, cracking and whining of
bullets in flight, machine gun fire and distant German
voices,”...

 

There is a film called "Joyeuse Noel" about the event. It is French so there are subtitles but it is a bittersweet film at best.

 

Joyeux Noel

Yes! that is a wonderful movie. My son and I watched it a year ago last Christmas when we were snowed in for three days.

MUCH of the movie is in English as British troops are a major part of the movie.

Here is the officail trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GOAaSgpHjw

There are many clips on Youtube; This one has had 0.4 million hits:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJqK5Hd61sk

The music is exquisite