Photo: Robin Savage
THE GREAT WARRIOR
Episode 6 – SILENT NIGHT: good will to all men
THE BAGPIPES PLAY:
‘DRUMMERBOY’
THE MOTHER PLUCKS AN ENVELOPE FROM THE LONE TREE / SHE
GIVES IT TO THE NURSE / SHE OPENS THE ENVELOPE
THROUGHOUT THIS EPISODE ALL BECOME THE SOLDIERS IN
THE LETTER / IN THE STORY / THE BOY AND THE GIRL WILL PLAY FOOTBALL
25 December 1914. Christmas Day (The Truce).
The 7th letter: silent night.
Dear
Mum
It is now evening and today has
been extraordinary.
At around mid-morning we
were about to fire on a small group of Germans walking towards us across no
man’s land when we noticed they carried no rifles – and there were no white
flags!
One of our men stood up, went
‘over the top’, and greeted them. Within minutes there were more than a hundred
of us all shaking hands and wishing everyone a merry Christmas.
It
makes you wonder what all the fighting is about if this can happen. Perhaps
there need to be more Christmas days if it brings about this sort of peace.
It
only lasted about 30 - 45 minutes but we swapped cigarettes and took
photographs and some exchanged autographs. Soldiers shook hands and one or two
even hugged. From what we could understand, the German soldiers just want it
all to end and to get back home and be with their families, too – like us.
Some of the men were even
talking about another truce, on New Year’s Day, so that everyone can see how
the photographs came out.
There was even a football
match: we played football! I am sure you will not believe me when you read
this: I can barely believe it myself.
And
then everyone was ordered back to the trenches.
There wasn’t one shot fired
all day and the peace and the quiet were exquisite.
The Germans even put up a
notice saying “Merry Christmas”. And so we did the same. They then put up
another one which said: “Gott mit uns” which means “God is with us”. And so we
put up another one: “We got mittens too”. [PAUSE] I don’t know whether they got
the joke.
We cooked bacon and
porridge for breakfast and we’ve just had a Christmas stew. The food is not
like this every day, though!
I
even managed to go for a Christmas walk along the lines. Like we do back home.
Can you imagine? There were quite a few of us walking atop of the parapet:
strolling, thinking, and wishing one another a Merry Christmas – or just
smiling as we passed.
I
hope we can still smile when it is all over and done with…
What was even more
extraordinary was that later in the afternoon we buried some of our dead
together and had a joint burial service with some of the Germans. It was not
like they were even our enemy. There were many bodies, and parts of bodies,
scattered across this No Man’s Land but we gathered what we could.
What
a name for a place that is so full of men – dead and alive: no man’s land…
Afterwards,
we gave them some of our English tobacco and they gave us some of theirs. And
then we shook hands and wished each other good luck.
One
chap gave me some letters and asked me if I would send them to his girlfriend
in Glasgow. So I took the letters, franked them, and sent them off to his girlfriend
when I got back.
It certainly makes you
think about the pointlessness of this war if we can be burying our dead
together on Christmas day.
And it was all supposed to
be over by Christmas…
THE WARRIORS SING ‘SILENT NIGHT’
THE NURSE BEGINS TO SING FIRST / THEN THE MOTHER / THE
SOLDIER / THE CHILDREN / AND THE FINALLY THE ANCIENT INDIAN KING
THE ENVELOPES AND LETTERS USED THROUGHOUT THE GREAT
WARRIOR SO FAR ARE TIED BACK ONTO THE LONE TREE / THE LETTERS MIGHT ALMOST BE
DECORATIONS / THE TREE MIGHT EVEN LIGHT UP AT SOME POINT / IN FACT IT MUST
LIGHT UP
There
has been singing tonight and I saw a couple of the young lads crying. I think I
cried, too. But I should not be telling you this. They should not be here. They
are boys and too young to be here. It makes me angry if I think about it too
much so I must not think about it.
I
am writing this from my dugout in our trench; it is bitterly cold now but we
have managed to get a wood fire going and have plenty of straw to keep it going
until we fall asleep.
I want soap. I want a bar
of soap. And I want to wash. I want a bath. A long, hot soapy bath. For a week.
And for the water to be changed every hour.
You
wouldn’t recognise me I am so filthy. Anyhow. I love you.
I wish it could be
Christmas every day! Merry Merry!
With
love and good will to all men. Laurie.
P.S.
Save me some Christmas dinner!
It
makes you wonder what all the fighting is about if this can happen.
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