Christmas in a Foxhole
The Twelve Days of Christmas
Elder Paul H. Dunn has recorded this poignant experience for us. He
says: "I think the most memorable Christmas I can recall is one,
ironicallly, when I received no material gifts, nor was I wth my
immediate family at the time. It was the Christmas of 1944.
"As the date indicates, we were in the midst of World War II. We had
been working in fierce combat for the better part of two and a half
months and had worked our way through intense jungle to a very large
montainside which the enemy held tenaciously. As the American force
dug in at the botton of the mountain in preparation for the onslaught
the following day, we realize that it was Christmas Eve!
"There were some three thousand men in my battalion at the time, and as
we dug into our foxholes that evening, our thoughts naturally went
back to our home and the things our families and friends would be would
be doing that very hour. We were fighting the Japanese 24th Division,
headed by General Yamashita; at the time it was considered one of the
crack outfits of the Japanese Army.
"I shall never forget what happened that night as we took our places
in the holes. Around ten o'clock a young tenor who was occupying a
foxhole several hundred yards from me began to sing, 'It Came Upon the
Midnight Clear.' A hush came over hte mountainside as we listened
intently to the clear tones of his beautiful voice--each one of us
experiencing an inner testimony of what that song meant to us and to
the occasion.
"He followed with 'O Come, All Ye Faithful' and several other familiar
Christmas carols. Then he concluded by singing, 'Silent Night, Holy
Night', and as he did, the entire battle line--some three thousand
voices joined with him. We had never sung together, and yet, the
impact of that hymn had so lifted us that we sounded, I'm sure, like a
heavenly choir singing this most popular and yet most beautiful of all
Christmas carols.
"Little did we realize the impact our singing was having on the enemy.
Every night from approximately midnight until dawn the enemy had been
harassing our lines with heavy artillery and mortar fire, and
frequently they would infiltrate our lines with suicide squads. But,
this night was different. The singing had so touched their souls that
not a shot was fired for the remainder of the night and all through
Christmas Day.
"We sat exchanging thoughts and greetings of home, singing one with
another or in groups. So went Christmas Day, 1944. Then sharply at
twelve midnight, as that holy day came to an end in a foreign land,
the enemy commenced to pick up its battle stations, as did we, in
defense of our country. But for a 24-hour period, the message of the
Savior and of his life and what Christmas means had penetrated the
battle line to profoundly that there was literally, Peace on Earth,
Good Will toward Men.
"This was a Christmas I shall never forget, for it showed me the
transforming power of the life of the Savior, as He touches the hearts
of men--through words, through song, through testimony. This is the
message I would like to leave at this Christmastime--that if we would
apply the teachings and the principles and the example of the Savior
in our lives, the world literally could be transformed, just as it
was on that bloody battlefield so many years ago."
