You know, I always like to look back in history and gain some perspectives on war and the conditions of men during that war. And being in a war or just being away from family during the holidays is very tough. This is the time when you think about family, and you wish you were with them. And if you are in a really crappy location doing tough things out there in this war, then the comforts and memories of home during the holidays really sink in. It sucks, and you do what you can to get by and keep pressing forward with your job.
In the case of World War 1, I can only imagine how terrible that war was. A good indicator of how bad it was, is the fact that the soldiers on both sides agreed to a truce to celebrate Christmas. It must have been quite a thing to one day be slogging around in a freezing cold, bloody, and muddy trench, while trying to kill the enemy in a nearby trench, and then stop the next day to celebrate Christmas with that same enemy combatant. Both sides must have been so incredibly tired and mentally drained about the whole thing, to just put it all to the side for just one day of peace. Quite a thing indeed.
Where ever you are out there, hang in there and Merry Christmas from Feral Jundi. –Matt
——————————————————————-
This is part of a 10 page letter from an unknown British soldier who recorded events and incidents with the Germans during the 1914 Christmas Truce during World War 1.
This will be the most memorable Christmas I’ve ever spent or likely to spend: since about tea time yesterday I don’t think theres been a shot fired on either side up to now. Last night turned a very clear frost moonlight night, so soon after dusk we had some decent fires going and had a few carols and songs.