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t i t Shoppers Win Big Stocking Section Three The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, December 20,1989 15 Joka Faulkner, Manager of Bowmanville Travel, 19 "King Street West, proves that the larger the stocking ; the more Santa can pack into it. She is shown above with Gertrude Davey, of Bowmanville, who won the .mesh monster full of Christmas goodies in last week's -DBIA draw, says that she will donate it to charity. - ; Doris Perkins, of Oshawa, collects her giant stocking stocking prize at Snips Hair Design in Bowmanville on Tuesday, December 12. Doris is going to give her stocking to her grandchildren to keep them ousy on Christmas Day. Shown above, Jane Browning, owner of Snips helps Doris display her prize for the camera. Congratulations, Doris. This is one more big reason to shop Downtown Bowmanville. TKwufi càtouiû- cuut <ui<t 'WùvtUtfH' CENTRAL PAINT and WALLPAPER 295 Rltson Rd, S., Oshawa 434-3939 Even World War One Stopped for Christmas by Fred West From the stories passed on by the boys who were there, Christmas in 1914 was very quiet - no shelling, no fighting -- when suddenly, suddenly, from a distance, coming from the German front lines, they could hear singing which turned out to be Christmas Carols. The singing singing gradually got louder and louder as more voices joined in. They were then joined by the British, and eventually one German flying a white flag stepped out of the front line trench, followed by a dozen or more, all singing. When the English saw them, they too got out of their trenches, and they all met in the middle of "No Man's Land". They exchanged exchanged cigarettes and food and wished each other a Merry Christmas, standing around, talking about the War, and saying that it would be over in two or three months. The officers on both sides called the men back to their trenches, and that was the last of the Christmas celebrations. WTien they met in "No Man's Land" after that, it would be to kill each other. Christmas in the trenches trenches after that first one was like any other day. Maybe you would get an orange in your rations with the same old Bully Beef and hardtack, or maconicy (stew), maybe soup, coffee and your ration of water (if you could drink it). The water came up to the front lines in five gallon gasoline tins, but once in a while they would forget to burn out the gas fumes, and the water would taste of gas. We couldn't drink it, so we'd have to throw it away. We would get our water out of the shell holes. (I could tell you a few stories about finding finding bodies in these shell holes from time to time, but I don't want to spoil your Christmas dinner). The only difference between Christmas Christmas and any other day was maybe a little less killing, but you hardly noticed it. I actually never spent a Christmas day in the trenches. trenches. The closest I came was December 23rd, 1917. We had already served our cycle of seven-day reserve, seven- day support and seven-day front line. We were relieved on December 23rd. It was a wet night, and it was well past midnight before before we got clear of the fighting fighting section. We were soaked to the skin and dead on our feet. All we could do when we got into a dry, warm hut was to take off our equipment, equipment, dump it on the ground, lav down, and fall asleep, soaking wet. This was a good Christmas Christmas for me. After falling asleep for what seemed like 10 minutes, (it was actually 10 hours), I was awakened by someone shaking me. I opened my eyes ana looked up to see a dozen or so of the boys standing around me saying "Merry Christmas, Silver," (my nickname), and they were holding a parcel about two feet square over, my head. It was the only" piece of mail I received the whole eighteen months I was in the front line area. Our Christmas dinner was a very good one. We had turkey turkey with all the trimmings, plus apples, oranges, nuts and candy. It was almost like home, and we were all feeling good. We had our bath, clean clothes, and our uniforms had been deloused and steamed clean, and we didn't have to work. There were no parades, no drills; a perfect Christmas, under the circumstances. Christmas Day 1918 was somewhat different. We were in Germany and by the 23rd we realized our Christmas Christmas dinner hadn't arrived. On investigation, we discovered discovered that it had gone astray with the help of another regiment regiment and we were left without without any Christmas cheer. When the mayor of the town heard this, he called a meeting meeting of the town people, "who then gathered up all the spare food in the town and gave it to us, which we ap predated very much. (The spirit of Christmas was still alive.) Needless to say, we. replaced the food, and a little little more. ' Merry Christmas to all! - X Glenna Bayliss received her giant Christmas stocking stocking at Home Hardware. Gary Broderick made the 'presentation last Monday, December 4. : Jean Wickett collects the biggest stocking ever from ■Elizabeth Belanger-Linkletter, C.T.C., of Destinations -To Go Inc. at 98 King Street W., Bowmanville. Jean ! says that she. will be able to keep youngsters busy ; when they visit with their parents over the Christmas 1 Season. Jean shops Downtown Bowmanville because Ü the rewards are gigantic. Getting Ready for the Big Night Ahead! May all your holiday memories be cherished! Merry Christmas from the employees at BOWMANVILLE