Gift from the Sea by Anna Schmidt

Author:Anna Schmidt [Schmidt, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin (UK) Limited
Published: 2009-10-10T20:00:00+00:00

I will tell you a story—a true story and one I lived. In the early days of the war, I was in the infantry and we were stationed along the front in trenches dug facing the enemy. One December afternoon a few of us left our trenches with hands raised to show we were unarmed and walked out into the neutral no-man’s-land between the fighting armies. The British were wary but held their fire and watched as we began retrieving our dead and wounded from the most recent round of battle. Soon the Brits climbed out of their trenches to do the same for their lost brothers. Together we dug the graves heedless of whether a certain grave would be occupied by one of ours or one of theirs.

When the work was done, we stood for a time in that neutral space. We exchanged a few words and cigarettes, then returned to our respective trenches. We might have been neighbors who had gathered at a cemetery and then gone back home. That evening we continued to fraternize, calling back and forth to each other over the few kilometers that separated us. Many of those on our side had worked in England before the war and spoke the language. I had worked at the embassy in London and learned the language skills that would soon get me out of the trenches and living with officers behind the front lines. Others had worked in the restaurants and hotels of London because of hard times at home.

Although the Supreme Army Command expressly forbade such fraternization, most of the soldiers on both sides were farmers and local tradesmen who had joined the war in a burst of patriotism but now found themselves fighting for simple survival and the day they could go home. The fighting resumed the following day, but as Christmas Eve approached, soldiers on both sides received small gifts from their respective governments. I once saw a silver box embossed with the image of a woman and was told that this was given to the Brits filled with candies, tobacco and cigarettes. The woman is the daughter of their king.

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