the story of first ...

27 July 2001

the story of first world war soldiers climbing out from the trenches on christmas day to play football with the enemy in no man’s land is one of those stories that everybody knows. i’ve never been quite sure whether the story is a myth, a one off or a common occurence. i’ve come across this news story about the death at the age of 106 of the last christmas day truce veteran who played football, shared cigarettes and sang carols with the germans on christmas day 1915. it says that army generals had allowed a festive truce in 1914. i still don’t know how common an occurence this type of thing is but i guess it’s not a complete myth. my sister will still be wondering what the score was ;-)