World War II Story 

---

On 24 December 1944 I was spending my Christmas at a little place called BASTOGNE, Belgium, with the 101st Airborne Division. As many of you already know the story about the Battle of the Bulge, I won't go inot all the details about how we were surrounded and outnumbered by the German ArmIt was a cold, bitter, dark night and around about midnight surprisingly quiet.

All of a sudden, from the German position, we heard a single voice singings "SILENT NIGHT," in German. Soon more voices were added from the Germans. Suddenly, some American Soldier picked it up and before long most ofd us were singing along with the Germans. This went on for about 5 or 10 minutes and then stopped. A few minutes later we were back at each other, with guns blazing.
This incident has stayed in my memory all these years (56) and when I hear Silent Night I remember. Later I talked to American, British and French Soldiers about it and some of them had experienced the same thing on whatever front they had been fighting on, (Italy, France, Holland). I have talked to Veterans of WW1 and they tell similar stories.

In the middle of the worst battle of WW2 there was Peace on Earth for a few minutes. 

Submitted by: WILLIAMSGK@aol.com

---

return to the previous page