The Christmas dream of Peace On Earth briefly came true one hundred years ago. Mark Phillips has the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914: The old line about never letting the facts get in the way of a good story could have been invented for this scene. The facts are as slippery as the muddy football field -- and the story is so good, its still being told, even embellished, a hundred years later. Its the story of the World War I Christmas Truce of 1914, when groups of German and British soldiers briefly stopped shooting at each other and met and mingled in the no-mans-land between their lines -- before going back to shooting at each other. On the 100th anniversary, the encounter has been re-staged at one of the places along the old front line in Belgium where the truce originally occurred. The men (the story goes) not only exchanged greetings and gifts; they organized a soccer game between teams from the two armies -- boots and balls instead of bullets and bayonets. Its Christmas, good will! Lets just be friends for the day, said Chris Barker, whose three great-uncles were killed in the war not far from here. He says the truce should be remembered because it shows a different side to a war more known for wholesale slaughter than humanitarian gesture. I think it just shows the good in people that can be there, he said. Whereas days before and afterwards it was barbarous and savage, but people can suddenly lay down their differences. cbsnews/news/the-world-war-i-christmas-truce/ https://youtube/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM#t=16
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 16:44:37 +0000
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