The Pipes of Peace

I Light A Candle To Our Love
In Love Our Problems Disappear
But All In All We Soon Discover
That One And One Is All We Long To Hear

All'round The World
Little Children Being Born To The World
Got To Give Them All We Can 'Til The War Is Won
Then Will The Work Be Done
Help Them To Learn (Help Them To Learn)
Songs Of Joy Instead Of Burn, Baby, Burn(Burn, Baby Burn)
Let Us Show Them How To Play The Pipes Of Peace
Play The Pipes Of Peace

(excerpt of the song "The Pipes of Peace")

Paul McCartney wrote "The Pipes of Peace" to commemorate the Christmas Eve Truce of 1914.  The British and the Germans had been engaged in World War I for several weeks.  However, on that night, on a 27 miles stretch of the trenches from Ypres to La Bassee Canal in Belgium, an estimated 100,000 troops laid down their guns.  Germans lit candles on mini Christmas trees.  Many Germans and British ventured into "No Man's Land" and exchanged gifts such as food, alcohol, tobacco, and souvenirs like buttons and hats.  Germans British and even some French soldiers sang Christmas carols, a favourite being Silent Night which was recognized by all three countries.  Certain troops even participated in pick-up games of football in No Man's Land.  For one night, they put their differences aside and observed the birthday of the Prince of Peace.  For some, the night extended until Boxing Day; for others, it lasted a full week; for still others, a few weeks.  Yes, the pipes of peace played on Christmas Eve 1914 on the battlefields of Belgium.



Photo courtesy http://images.sodahead.com.

Babe Ruth: An American Icon

German soldiers of 150 Panzer Brigade with captured American armored car courtesy https://warisboring.com/fighting-in-plain-sight-impostors-on-the-battlefield-d1d8bb0ef12f#.my03dtnq1.

For decades, baseball was as American as apple pie.  The story goes that in the closing months of the Second World War, German soldiers, flying American flags and wearing American uniforms, were impersonating American soldiers in order to infiltrate enemies.  Therefore, American soldiers started asking questions that only other Americans know the answers to.  When Brigadier General Bruce Clarke incorrectly stated that the Chicago Cubs were in the American League, he was held at gunpoint for five hours (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Greif#Commandos).

If anyone represented baseball, it was Babe Ruth.  "The Great Bambino" played professional baseball for 22 years, from 1914 to 1935.  While he started his career with the Boston Red Sox, he spent most of his career playing for the New York Yankees.  Ruth was not afraid to take a risk.  While he was the home run king, he was also the strike out king.  Ruth was not afraid to take a risk; he refused to let anything deter him.  In 1924, after running into a wall during a match against the Washington Senators and being knocked unconscious, he insisted on staying in the game.  On his next time up to bat, suffering a bruised pelvic bone, he hit a double.  Babe Ruth won the World Series three times with the Red Sox and four times with the Yankees.

In 1936, Ruth was one of the first five baseball players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Babe Ruth has only grown in popularity since his death in 1948.  According to one collector, his earliest baseball card now rivals the famous Honus T. Wagner card in value (http://www.deanscards.com/Babe-Ruth-Baseball-Cards).

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