Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published Dec. 25, 2002

A shadow remains this Christmas

As we relive the arrival of the Prince of Peace, there remains a shadow. For yet another year, young men and women are scattered far and wide seeking to keep the peace. Peace, the elusive absence of war or other hostilities. On a New Year's Eve in 1863 the Battle at Stone's River would begin at dawn. But on that night bands on both sides of the war began playing "Dixie," "Yankee Doodle" and many other songs that brought happy memories as they sang and forgot the conflict that lay ahead. The music ended with "Home Sweet Home." In that brief period, there was peace on Earth to men of good will.

There is another true, though almost unbelievable, story of another war that stopped during the few short hours of Christmas. It was 1914 - the first Christmas of World War I. At that early date, only the British and Germans were at war. Pope Benedict XV had pleaded for a Christmas truce, but to no avail.

The magic that was to happen that Christmas brings poet Henry Longfellow's words to mind, "Like a bell, with solemn, sweet vibrations, I hear once more the voice of Christ say 'Peace'."
Perhaps it began with the sounds of an organ in a shattered cathedral. A group of English soldiers wandered into the church, and one sat down at the organ which had escaped damage and began to play "Adeste Fideles." In the bitter cold how far the music carried we do not know. We do know from soldier's letters and diaries that as night fell strange rumors circulated throughout the muddy, wet trenches on both sides of No Man's Land.

The word passed that both the Germans and British had declared a truce throughout Christmas Day. In fact, there was no such official declaration, but to the men in that desolate spot, it was true. Along the top of German trenches, candles glowed. Here and there a Christmas tree appeared. Soon, men from both sides clambered from the trenches, worked their way around the barbed wire and met halfway. Some held signs marked with "merry Christmas."

Officers saluted each other and shook hands. An informal agreement was made that no repairs would be made to the barbed wire and, if an accidental shot should be fired, it would not be an act of war. An apology would be sufficient. The serious business of burying the dead whose frozen bodies lay where they fell was done. One respectful group of Germans carried the body of an officer who had fallen on their side of the line to his men.

There was singing, and any who had musical instruments added to the festive mood. The "enemies" exchanged chocolates and smokes, and souvenirs were passed back and forth. One group played a football game. Another group of Germans invited the Brits to visit their trench.

So went Dec. 25, 1914, but at the stroke of midnight they bade each other goodnight, returned to their respective trenches, and the war began once more.

In the many bloody war years that followed those soldiers who were there for that Christmas never forgot those hours when peace ruled their hearts.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.