While poking around on the internet this evening, I stumbled on a series of vintage photos of military personnel celebrating Christmas on the front lines during a number of 20th century conflicts. The photographs are stunning, primarily because of the hope and kindness in the faces and eyes of the people depicted. It's surely a testament to the power of the holiday that it can bring some small measure of peace and goodwill to good people even under such appallingly difficult circumstances.
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| World War I | 1917: Young
servicemen bring mistletoe to a London YMCA center preparing for Christmas
celebrations in honor of American troops stationed there. | (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
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World War II | 1939: A member of the Auxiliary Territorial
Service in Britain kisses a soldier under a sprig of mistletoe. |
(Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS)
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World War II |
1940: A group of soldiers break from clearing London’s air raid sites to have
some Christmas pudding. | (William Vanderson/Fox Photos/Getty Images)
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Korean War |
1954: U.S. troops pass out Christmas gifts and letters sent from home. |
(Bettmann/CORBIS)
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Vietnam War |
1970: Pfc. James Heckman, 20, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, reads a letter attached
to the Christmas present he received while stationed in Con Thein, Vietnam. |
(Bettmann/CORBIS)
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