The WW1 Christmas Day Truce

At Christmas 2002, I published a story in ‘Ireland’s Eye’ magazine, about a song written by an Irish writer, about the truce that happened between Allie and German soldiers during the early days of WW1.    

This Christmas song is still doing the rounds of the airwaves, and in the intervening years since 2002 it has been recorded to great acclaim by Daniel O’Donnell and Tommy Fleming.    

In the 1970’s, the writer of the song, Cormac McConnell wrote about ‘The Christmas Man’ which also features on theirishsod.com  Many things have changed from when I originally wrote the story, including the death of Cormac’s brother Sean.

 

Honoured in Song: Christmas Day Truce 1915

Writer and broadaster Cormac McConnell is the author of a lovely Christmas song that is currently filtering through the airwaves.  The lovely ballad tells the tale of a long-forgotten WW1 Christmas Day incident.

This Christmas a song which has been getting as much airplay as last year’s Robbie Williams/Nicole Kidman No. 1 hit, ‘Something Stupid’, is a lovely ballad entitled ‘Silent Night 1915’, which depicts the story of Germany and the Allies calling a truce and socialising together.
Cormac, who is the brother of Irish Times Agricultural Correspondent, Sean McConnell and Mickey McConnell, who wrote the classic rebel song ‘Only Our Rivers Run Free’, is well-known in the world of music and journalism. 
He fell into the story of the incident of Christmas Day 1915 while watching a television documentary one night a number of years ago.  It was reported that one of the young German soldiers sung ‘Silent Night’ on that Christmas Day.
“They all hugged each other, exchanged gifts and played a game of soccer,” said Cormac, about the historic occasion.
Cormac today lectures in communications at NUI Galway and holds down a five times weekly show on Clare FM.
The journalist was inspired to write a song about the unique WW1 event, and the ballad is now showing all the signs of becoming an Irish classic. 
“There is no footage of it, but on the night of the documentary it touched me and my life went in a flash, and I wrote it immediately,” recalled Cormac.  “I remember walking around the room writing it.”
He proudly said that when he first sang the number to an audience in a music pub, - “there were tears in their eyes,”.
Cormac wasn’t confident enough to record the song himself, but gave it to the fine tenor, Jerry Lynch, who gives great power to the beautiful ballad.   The lovely tune has got lots of airplay on Val Joyce’s Late Date programme on RTE Radio 1 and on the main local radio stations this Christmas.
“I’m generally very proud of it,” says Cormac.