Episode 2.45 Peace

WW1 Digger History Podcast

This one is wide and varied.

Percy writes something that I have read over an over again in these diaries. To him, Armistice Day was a relief rather than a cause for merriment, and that is not just because Percy isn't a party animal, it was common among the majority of the soldiers.

I love Percy's description of Christmas and the farewell dinners ....

At 6.30p.m. 54 officers sat down, and one glance at the artistic and lengthy menu dispelled all doubt -- if any doubt there had been -- as to the probable quality of the dinner. At each diner's elbow lay a bon-bon cracker, and those of us who were childishly eager to pull our crackers were soon satisfied. The colonel set the ball rolling by inviting the "Beer Emma" (Brigade-Major) to pull his cracker with him. Immediately there followed a crackle around the table, and each of us donned the paper hats contained in the bon-bons. Then we settled down. Maybe I should say that most of us settled down, for the barman had been working like a Trojan in the ante-room all the afternoon!

Pulling crackers, really!