Today is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. I thought this Christmas Story, from World War II was appropriate. CHRISTMAS STORY #2: This is one of my favorites. A dear old friend of my father, Herman Retz, tells this story from his WWII days. We were on a ship in the North Atlantic on a very cold, lonely Christmas Eve Night. It was foggy and quiet. Those of us who were on duty on the deck of that ship were miserable with homesickness. In the midst of the pressing silence, the lone voice of the lookout in the crows nest, a second generation German, rang out with a beautiful rendition of Silent Night in German. Suddenly lights shown about 1/4 mile off our starboard bow. Jolted out of my reverie, I put the glasses to my eyes to see what it was. I was stunned by what I saw and called for silence. Despite the fact that it was a German ship that I saw, I ordered everyone to stand down, but be ready. If they were going to attack us, why would they have lit up first, alerting us to their presence? In the dark and cold of that lonely Christmas Eve, the dozen of us on the deck of that ship, in the middle of a war, experienced the greatest expression of peace’ ever known as German sailors stood at the bow of their ship replying to our lookouts serenade with their own serenade as they sang back to us: Stille Nacht, then passed on into the darkness. Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht, Alles schläft; einsam wacht Nur das traute hochheilige Paar. Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar, Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh! Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 13:20:45 +0000
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