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Christmas dinner at the war front
Broadcast Date: Dec. 4, 1944
Christmas dinner is always something to look forward to, even when it is canned turkey heated up on a "#3 Petrol Burner" and eaten out of a mess tin. Army cook Frank Barley describes his efforts to prepare something special for 50 men in a farmhouse near the Dutch front.Christmas dinner at the war front
• In previous wars there were occasional "unofficial truces" on Christmas Day, such as the one observed in 1914 by British and German soldiers in Belgium during the First World War. But fighting never let up for Christmas during the Second World War. In 1943 Canadians were engaged in particularly vicious hand-to-hand combat with Germans in Ortona, Italy on Christmas Day.• CBC reporters used a portable disc cutter to record overseas war reports on aluminum discs. In 1942 CBC turned these discs over for the war effort — they were melted down for raw material to manufacture aircraft.
Also on December 4:
• 1866: Delegates from Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia begin constitutional talks in London, England and eventually create the BNA Act.
• 1909: The first Grey Cup game is held at Rosedale Field in Toronto.
• 1985: Justice Beverly McLachlin becomes the first woman named to the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
Christmas dinner at the war front
Medium: Radio
Program: CBC Radio News
Broadcast Date: Dec. 4, 1944
Guest(s): Frank Barley
Reporter: Jack Scott
Duration: 3:33
Photo: Christmas in Ortona / Dept. of National Defence / PAC
Last updated:
March 20, 2008
Radio
3:34
Three soldiers tell the folks at home what they should send overseas to give their boys some holiday cheer.
Radio
4:36
Hand to hand fighting on Christmas Eve in "the courtyard of hell."
Christmas dinner at the war front.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: March 20, 2008.
[Page consulted on Feb. 12, 2012.]