It's late 1914. December cold in the trenches of the Western Front of World War I.

Rations are in short supply. Men shiver… dreaming of home. Wishing they were far away. For months, here in the trenches, the sounds of the machine gun fire have peppered every waking moment. The whining of the bullets. The hissing and the cracking. But this morning — Christmas morning — the guns stop. It’s not planned. It’s spontaneous. But it happens all along the front. And over hundreds of miles of trenches. Silence… And then singing. Soft at first and then louder. Carols. Christmas songs. First one side sings in German. And then the other in French or English. It’s the beginning of the Christmas Truce. 100,000 soldiers would participate in the temporary ceasefire. It remains a testament to the humanity in us all. A reminder of the resistance from men on the front lines to the savages of war. Resistance to the orders from above.

Written and produced by Michael Fox.

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Resources:

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• O Tannenbaum - Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles

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