During World War II, celebrating Christmas on the battlefield reflected the unanticipated best of humanity. There are, no doubt, hundreds of accounts about unique, memorable, and meaningful celebrations of the Yuletide holidays during the fierce fighting of the Second World War. Here are three stories exemplifying the way US soldiers, under harsh winter conditions at the Battle of the Bulge, experienced the spirit of Christ’s coming to save mankind.
Christmas Came to Wiltz
Peace on Earth and goodwill toward men are generally tough to come by on the battlefield. Yet the spirit of Christmas in the bleak and frigid Ardennes Forest surrounding the beleaguered US Army’s fighting soldiers did happen. In December 1944, during what became infamously known as the Battle of the Bulge, there was the saga of Corporal Dick Brookins, a 22-year-old infantryman from the 28th Infantry Division, also known as the “Bloody Bucket” division. During a rare break from the intense fighting, Brookins was deployed in Wiltz, Luxembourg, about 12 miles from Bastogne, Belgium. The people of Wiltz had been brutalized under the German occupation, leaving the residents, and especially the children, with little to celebrate. According to an account in America’s Veteran Stories entitled “American Saint Nick and a Small Town’s Unforgettable Christmas,” Brookins brought a small gesture of Christmas joy to the town of Wiltz. As the story is told:
“Brookins donned a priest’s robe, a scratchy rope beard, and a makeshift miter hat to portray St. Nicholas. Riding in a Jeep flanked by two ‘angels,’ he distributed bags filled with treats like cookies, chocolate, and donuts, made possible by the soldiers’ rations and contributions. The children’s smiles and laughter transformed the somber atmosphere of the war-torn town into a moment of pure joy.”
After the war, the town did not forget the American soldier who demonstrated that even in the midst of the most horrible circumstances, there can be a lasting remembrance of kindness. In 1947, Wiltz began commemorating Brookins’ bringing Saint Nicholas to life and the Christmas spirit by celebrating annually “The American St. Nicholas.”
The second story from the Battle of the Bulge comes from a compilation of online sources, one by the American Battle Monuments Commission titled “Christmas Eve 1944: a brief moment of peace on the battlefield,” and another by Tee It Up for the Troops: “A Christmas Meal with the Germans.” It is the remembrance of a German, Fritz Vincken, recounting an experience he had as a boy living with his mother in a farmhouse in the middle of the vicious fighting outside of Bastogne. On Christmas Eve, there was a knock at the door, and three American soldiers who had been separated from their unit on the front line came into the house. One American was wounded.
It was not long before there was another knock on the door. “The Americans went for their guns. My mother quickly called out in German, ‘Welcome on Christmas Eve, I have guests,” the story goes. Four German soldiers entered. In both French and German, the boy’s mother established the rule “no killing on Christmas Eve.” Seven soldiers seeking relief from the bitter cold faced each other – four on three. But for the moment, they followed the rules, no killing on Christmas Eve. The small chicken that had been cooking was shared, and soon the enemies, exhausted, slept. “In the morning, the German soldiers built a stretcher for the wounded American and even gave them directions on how to get back to their lines,” Vincken recounted. “I often think of the gift these men gave to my family that night, the gift they gave each other.”
Moments of Peace Were Few
The more common remembrance of Christmas at the Battle of the Bulge is that of the soldiers on the frontline. The fighting did not stop for them. In one case, an artillery barrage persistently punctuated the Christmas Eve night as American soldiers huddled in their foxholes, pressing their bodies into the frozen earth to escape death. Particularly deadly were the German high-explosive artillery shells set to explode in the tops of forest trees, sending hot razor-sharp shrapnel and wood splinters down on unprotected soldiers below.
Tee It Up for the Troops shows again what the American infantry experienced at the Battle of the Bulge, with Corporal Frank Vari explaining what his Christmas Eve was like:
“I spent Christmas Eve pressed against the walls of my foxhole as shells exploded around me all night long. We could hear their guns going off and the shells landing at the same time. They were close. They almost surrounded the whole place. I remember Christmas Day. I got up, and we had a real bad night, with artillery and everything. The first thing I saw was the steeple of a church down in the valley. It was a beautiful day; the sun was just coming up over a little village at the bottom.”
War is the most horrific experience that humans inflict on themselves. There are, however, moments of respite even when fighting is at its worst. The Battle of the Bulge was by all accounts one of the deadliest single battles Americans faced – yet there was also Christmas.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.
