I grew up in Miami County, Ohio. Lifelong friends of my parents were Hugh and Margaret Phillis. Hugh was involved in such a Christmas celebration with German soldiers when he was in France. He told the story of how they visited one another's trenches on Christmas, sang carols, drank Schnapps, shared whatever food they had, then began shooting hell out of one another again on the 26th !! Hugh was gassed, and he had lung problems for the rest of his life from it. Dave Ross Denver

Was Hugh British, or does that imply that they did that every year? There are stories of British and Germans, and perhaps Americans and Germans, but did this happen between Germans and French? What about the other fronts - Germans and Russians, Austrians and Italians? As the latter two were both Catholics, why didn't the Pope order them to cease hostilities? Too easy, but I would hope that the churches opposed the war. The Austrians could have, or did, negotiate a peace before 11 Nov 1918, but Germany would not allow Austria to quit the war. They threatened to invade Austria if the Austrians made peace. Interesting line: "The Germans, who previously were viewed as demonized beasts by the British and French ..." Anti-German, pro-war sentiment was being stirred up in America as well, prompting the German-educated Walter Rauschenbusch to write a book titled: "Be Fair to Germany". Eugene Debs went to jail for speaking out against the war in America. The Supreme Court wrote in his case that the First Amendment does not allow someone to yell "Fire" in a crowded theatre. He got over a million votes for President in 1920 as the socialist candidate, "Convict 9654". That was his third run for the Presidency, he had received 800,000 votes in 1912, which was before the number of voters was doubled by giving women the right to vote. Anyway, if you "Always question our leaders," be prepared to be jailed. It would be more inspiring to see a Christmas miracle that survived December. Thomas Koch ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, December 23, 2000 8:12 AM Subject: Re: [GERMAN-LIFE] First World War > I grew up in Miami County, Ohio. Lifelong friends of my parents were Hugh > and Margaret Phillis. Hugh was involved in such a Christmas celebration with > German soldiers when he was in France. He told the story of how they visited > one another's trenches on Christmas, sang carols, drank Schnapps, shared > whatever food they had, then began shooting hell out of one another again on > the 26th !! Hugh was gassed, and he had lung problems for the rest of his > life from it. > > Dave Ross > Denver > >