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Many people have been asking me about an episode which supposedly happened during the first year of World War I where the German troops, who were in close contact with the British, got a football match organized and sang Silent Night.

Knowing the story, I included it in the video I did with John McDermott titled The Tragedy of War.

The following description appears in a booklet that comes with the CD:

“Christmas in the Trenches” sounds like something from a novel or movie, not a real event.  But the song is based on a true incident on the first Christmas of World War I when soldiers from both sides gathered in no man’s land to party and gab and discover the faces and the families behind the blurs they had in their sights the rest of the year.  It was called the Amazing Truce and was wondered at, even celebrated, by the public even as the generals worried about the collapse of discipline.  At the heart of the song is the fact that for many veterans, respect mingles with the official hatred of the enemy.

Hereunder is the actual script, and it tells the whole story.

Intro:

Those who have not seen war at first hand often wonder if there is hatred for the enemy.  War amps, having been in close combat, know the answer.  It was usually a feeling of mutual respect.  This was never more evident than in the famous Christmas truce early in World War One.

Christmas in the Trenches

My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from Liverpool.
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after school.
From Belgium and to Flanders, Germany to here
I fought for King and country I love dear.
‘Twas Christmas in the trenches, and the frost so bitter hung,
The frozen fields of France were still, no Christmas song was sung
Our families back in England were toasting us that day
Their brave and glorious lads so far away.

I was lying with my messmate on the cold and rocky ground
When across the lines of battle came a most peculiar sound
Says I, “Now listen up, me boys!” each soldier strained to hear
As one young German voice sang out so clear.
“He’s singing bloody well, you know!” my partner says to me
Soon, one by one, each German voice joined in in harmony
The cannons rested silent, and the gas clouds rolled no more
As Christmas brought us respite from the war

As soon as they were finished and a reverent pause was spent
“God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” struck up some lads from Kent
The next they sang was “Stille Nacht.” “Tis ‘Silent Night’,” says I
And in two tongues one song filled up that sky
“There’s someone coming toward us now!” the front line sentry cried
All sights were fixed on one long figure trudging from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shown on that plain so bright
As he, bravely, trudged unarmed into the night

Then one by one on either side walked into No Man’s Land
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well
And in a flare lit football game we gave ‘em hell
We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of their own
Tom Sanders played his squeezebox and they had a violin
This curious and unlikely band of men

Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more
With sad farewells we each began to settle back to war
But the question haunted every heart that lived that wonderous night
“Whose family have I fixed within my sights?”
‘Twas Christmas in the trenches and the frost, so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs of peace were sung
For the walls they’d kept between us to exact the work of war
Had been crumbled and were gone forevermore

My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War I, I’ve learned its lessons well
For the ones who call the shots won’t be among the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we’re the same

The late George Blackburn was a well-known Gunner Officer with the 4th Field regiment.  He had the distinction of the longest service as a Forward Observation Officer in support of infantry.

George survived the war and became my closest friend.  We worked together on various projects involving veterans.

George was adamant that the artillery did not get sufficient credit for the battle which raged from D-Day (June 6, 1944) to the end of the fighting (May 8, 1945).  He wrote three books as follows:

• The Guns of Normandy
• The Guns of Victory
• Where the Hell are the Guns?

He has two strong arguments to back up his comments.

FIRST: We now have access to the official reports identifying fragments from German sources (artillery; rockets; rifle bullets; mines and grenades).

• Shells          290
• Small arms  107
• Rockets        56  

• Total           453

British origin

• Shells          121
• Small arms      1
• Total           122

Combined German and British shells made up 53% of all wounds.

SECOND: Personal experience of Captain Blackburn

The battle was at the Twente Canal in Germany.  The Canadian formations included:

4th Field Regiment
Royal Regiment of Canada
Royal Hamilton Light Infantry

The Canadian battle diaries state that Captain Blackburn, as a Forward Observation Officer, took over command of the Infantry forces.  The Staff Officer completing the report stated:  “The Bridgehead was heavily counter-attacked and one company was completely cut off.  The company commander (Blackburn) called the mortars down on his own position.” 

FOR THIS ACTION GEORGE BLACKBURN WAS AWARDED THE MILITARY CROSS.

Exactly 10 years ago today, Canadians shared in the pride that justice had finally been done for our Hong Kong veterans when our Government announced compensation of $24,000 to each surviving Far East PoW or to their widow for the forced labour they endured while prisoners of the Japanese in World War II.

Approximately 2,100 Canadians were held captive by the Japanese in World War II. The bulk were from the Canadian Forces, sent to defend the British Colony of Hong Kong; the remainder were personnel of the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Navy or other British Forces.  

The Canadian Army troops totalled 1,972 all ranks, comprising primarily the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada, drawn mainly from the Eastern Townships of Québec.

They sailed from Canada on October 27, 1941, reaching Hong Kong on November 16th.   Japan attacked the Hong Kong garrison on December 7, 1941, and the battle lasted 17½ days, ending on Christmas Day, 1941.

The Canadians lost 286 killed or murdered by their captors and endured 44 months of imprisonment either in Hong Kong or Japan. One hundred and thirty-three Canadian soldiers died in the Hong Kong PoW camps. Another 136 died in camps in Japan.

The War Amps, having obtained non-governmental organization (NGO) status, led the fight for compensation at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.  Starting in 1987, we made a number of submissions to clarify points including that there was no moratorium on war crimes of World War II.

In 1992, the Commission stated it could not proceed until we exhausted all domestic remedies, and so in November 1996, we made a submission to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade.  It submitted a report to the Minister of Veterans Affairs recommending that the Canadian Government pay the Claim and seek restitution from Japan.   The Committee later produced a report, supported by all political parties and tabled in the House of Commons on May 7, 1998.

The matter was raised in the House on June 3,1998, when Foreign Affairs Minister Axworthy was asked about The War Amps discovery of documents showing that Canada had ignored and covered up an opportunity in 1955 to seek more compensation for Hong Kong Veterans. Axworthy had not yet seen the documentation and responded that the 1952 Peace Treaty had settled the matter, however on later reviewing the documentation, advised me that he considered the matter “urgent” and was instituting an inquiry within his Department.

On December 11, 1998, the claim was paid in accordance with the provision of the Geneva Convention that prisoners of war who were forced into slave labour for Japanese industries, are required to be paid at the same rate as workers in Japan.

The War Amps told this story in an internationally award-winning documentary called Canada’s Hong Kong Veterans: The Compensation Story.

There never was a finer group of men than the Amps of the Great War.  Their like will not pass this way again.  The recent marking of the 90th anniversary of the Armistice brings to mind these tremendous men who ignored their disabilities and braved the rigours of re-establishment.

Only one quadruple amputee survived World War I.  On April 9, 1917, Ethelbert “Curley” Christian lost his arms and legs in the Battle of Vimy Ridge while fighting with the 78th Canadian Infantry Battalion, also known as the Winnipeg Grenadiers.

Curley was wounded on the first day of the battle when heavy enemy shelling buried him in a trench.  With debris crushing all four of his limbs, he lay on the battlefield for two days before being found very close to death.  Two stretcher bearers were struck and killed by German shells while carrying Curley off the battlefield, but he again miraculously survived.

Later, in the French hospital, gangrene set in and he lost both arms below the elbow and both legs below the knee. 

Never losing his sunny demeanour, Curley recuperated at Christie Street Hospital in Toronto, and in 1920 married Cleo MacPherson, a volunteer aid he had met there. 

It was costing the government a fair amount of money to keep Curley at Christie Street.  Cleo went to the Director of the hospital and told him that Curly was very unhappy.  She said that she could take him home and look after him, but it would mean she would be unable to do anything else.  She was a scrub-woman and that’s how she earned her living.  They were not wealthy people.  She insisted, “I can take him home, but somehow or other, the government has got to pay some money for this.”

The Director of Christie Street Hospital immediately wrote a memorandum to the then Minister - it was the old DSCR, the Department of Soldiers Civil Re-Establishment.  He said “this sounds like a good financial deal,” and so they turned around and put in something called Attendance Allowance.  And what it really means is that the very seriously disabled can stay in their own homes and, in addition to pension, the Government will pay an Attendance Allowance. 

Curley and Cleo enjoyed a happy married life and raised a son, Douglas.  Curley became an active and popular member of The War Amps.  He returned to the scene of his grievous injuries as one of the 8,000 Canadian veterans who travelled to France in July of 1936 to mark the dedication of the new Vimy Memorial.

Curley passed away due to a heart ailment in March of 1954 at the age of 69.  On his death, legendary Toronto reporter Gregory Clark eulogized him thusly:  “After the Vimy battle, Curley Christian lived 37 years a happy man, going to the races, playing gin rummy, attending meetings, speaking and standing forth for his Comrades, an inspiration to all those with lesser fates who might grieve for themselves.  Curley never grieved.  There was enough of him left to be a man among men.”