Christmas 1914

On Monday, Alfred Anderson passed from this world. Mr. Anderson was the last known survivor to have heard the guns fall silent on Christmas Eve, 1914. For those who may not know, during WW I, the Great War, on Christmas Eve 1914 a spontaneous truce happened along the trenches in France. Nothing was declared, the soldiers on each side just stopped firing at each other. After nightfall singing was heard coming from the German trenches, they were singing Silent Night. The English soldiers across the line responded by singing their own carols. The truce eventually escalated to an exchange of cigarettes, buttons, food and finally a soccer game by lit by flares. When morning came, the war resumed. Mr. Anderson didn’t participate in the soccer game, but he fought until 1916, was wounded by shrapnel, returned to Scotland and married. He was 109 when he died, the last person known to have experienced that extraordinary event. That living memory has passed out of this world.