Veterans for Peace: Remembering the Christmas Truce

Fenya – Christmas Truce Music Video Anti-War by Veterans For Peace UK and Firebrand Records.

“A few years ago, VFP UK and Tom Morello’s Firebrand Records released “Christmas Truce” a holiday single and video to promote the ideals behind that truce – soldier-led resistance against war and militarism. Written by Firebrand Records co-founder, folk singer, and longtime anti-war activist Ryan Harvey, “Christmas Truce” is performed by Belgian-born, London-based singer Fenya, an active member of London’s Food Not Bombs. Accompanying the song is a video shot with members of Veterans For Peace UK, featuring former soldiers of conflicts stretching from the Second World War to the present interventions and occupations in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan.”

~ * ~

“Every year, Veterans For Peace celebrates the anniversary of the Christmas Truce. Once again, we urge our leaders to follow the example set by the Christmas Truce soldiers who rejected militarism and the glorification of war. We call on all leaders to honor all those who have died in war by working for peace and the prevention of war.

Who better than veterans who work for peace to tell the story of these soldiers’ celebration of peace in the midst of war? There is no better way to honor the dead than to protect the living from the fear, terror and moral deprivation of war….”

Remembering the Christmas Truce

 

Statement Calling for a Christmas Truce in Ukraine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Janet Parker, Madison for A World Beyond War
[email protected] | (608) 228-9096
Contact: Jerry Folk, Interfaith Peace Working Group
[email protected] | (608) 513-3178

[Anyone who would like to support the truce may sign on here. ]

~ Wisconsin Faith Leaders Call for ~

a ~ Christmas Truce ~  in Ukraine

Inspired by the miraculous Christmas truce of 1914, local leaders petition the Biden administration to push for negotiations and will host a walk to involve the public on Sunday, December 18

 

Madison, WI – A diverse and quickly growing coalition of nearly 1000 faith leaders in the United States have signed onto a Christmas truce statement demanding a ceasefire in the War in Ukraine. Madison, Wisconsin leaders are hosting a walk to call for a Christmas truce on Sunday, December 18th. The public is welcome to participate.

Initiated by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, USA, the National Council of Elders, CODEPINK and the Peace in Ukraine Coalition, the Christmas truce for Ukraine, is inspired by the miraculous Christmas truce of 1914, in which 100,000 German and British soldiers ceased fire and participated in a brief and spontaneous peace along the Western Front. Emerging from their trenches, soldiers ventured into the “no man’s land” where they shared food and drink; they sang Christmas carols and even played soccer together. It was a potent example of how the human spirit can be a powerful force that transcends hate and division in the promotion of peace.

Several Wisconsin leaders and faith organizations that have signed the statement to support the Christmas truce in Ukraine. They include, but are not limited to, Sister Rosalie Lauer (Sisters of St. Dominic), Madison Friends Meeting (Quakers), Interfaith Peace Working Group, Reverend Erica Liu (Pres House), Pastor Valerie Showalter (Madison Mennonite Church), Rabbi Betsy Forester (Beth Israel Center), Nick Utphall (Advent Lutheran Church of Madison Christian Community), Julia Weaver (United Church of Christ), Phil Haslanger (Christ Presbyterian), and Pastor Peter Beeson (St John’s Lutheran), Rev. Jerry Folk (ELCA pastor), Rev. Franz Rigert, (Conference Minister, Wisconsin Conference, UCC), Rev. Frederick Trost (UCC pastor), and Sister Maureen McDonnell (Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa).

 

For a full list of signers visit this link.

The itinerary for the Sunday, December 18, Madison Christmas Truce Walk is listed below. The public is welcome to attend any part of the event.

• 10:45 am – St John’s Lutheran Church, 322 E Washington Ave. Clergy Rev Peter Beeson and Rev Julia Weaver have signed the call for a Christmas Truce.
• 11:15 am – Walk west, up East Washington and around the Capitol.
• 12:00 – 12:45 pm – Madison Friends Meeting (Quakers), 1704 Roberts Ct. The congregation signed onto the Truce.
• 12:45 pm – Walk to Pres House on Library Mall.
• 1:15 – 1:30 pm – Walk ends with a very brief vigil at Library Mall. Pres House will share their space for warming up at 731 State St.

 

More info on the walk 

Ukraine war: The Russians locked up for refusing to fight – BBC News

Check out at bottom

Support Russian conscientious objectors

Statement of the Movement of Conscientious Objectors (Russia) for the International Conscientious Objection Day | War Resisters’ International (wri-irg.org)

Courage to Resist – Supporting Military War Resisters Who Refuse to Fight

“People here don’t understand how much danger we’re in. Not from the opposing side. But from our own side.”

Ukraine war: The Russians locked up for refusing to fight – BBC News

“When his son was sent to fight in Ukraine, Sergei begged him not to go.

“You’ve got relatives there. Just refuse,” Sergei recalls telling Stas, who was already an army officer. “But he said he was going. He believed it was right. I told him that he was a zombie. And that, unfortunately, life would prove that.”

Sergei and Stas are not the real names of this father and son. We’ve changed them to protect their identities. Sergei has invited us to his home to tell us their story.

“So off he went to Ukraine. Then I started getting messages from him asking what would happen if he refused to fight.”

Stas told his father about one particular battle.

“He said the [Russian] soldiers had been given no cover; there was no intelligence gathering; no preparation. They’d been ordered to advance, but no one knew what lay ahead.

“But refusing to fight was a difficult decision for him to take. I told him: ‘Better to take it. This is not our war. It’s not a war of liberation.’ He said he would put his refusal in writing. He and several others who’d decided to refuse had their guns taken off them and were put under armed guard.”

Sergei made several trips to the front line to try to secure his son’s release. He bombarded military officials, prosecutors and investigators with appeals for help.

Eventually his efforts paid off. Stas was sent back to Russia. He revealed to his father what had happened to him in detention: how a “different group” of Russian soldiers had tried to force him to fight…. [more at link above]

Support Russian conscientious objectors – FOR-USA (forusa.org)

“International human rights law affirms people’s right, due to principled conviction, to refuse to participate in military conflict, and conscientious objection has a long and rich history. You would think that those resisting this war would be able to find refuge in European countries, but in August, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky asked his Western allies to reject all Russian émigrés. Currently, all non-visa travel from Russia to EU countries is suspended.

As Russian men fled after Putin’s conscription announcement, Latvia closed its border with Russia, and Finland said it was likely going to be tightening its visa policy for Russians.

The Biden administration has said that Russians fleeing Putin’s draft are “welcome” in the US and encouraged them to apply for asylum in the United States. But as far back as last October, before Russia invaded Ukraine, amid tit-for-tat US-Russia tensions, Washington announced it would henceforth only issue visas to Russians through the US Embassy in Warsaw, 750 miles away from Moscow — and continued into fiscal year 2023 its FY2022 global refugee cap of 125,000.

The International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) is petitioning European institutions to support the brave war resisters and we need the US to support them as well.”

100 Years Young, Congratulations F. Lincoln Grahlfs

Happy birthday, Lincoln! Behind him, Madison VFP members Larry, Phil, Steve, Daryl, John, and Tom. Photo credit, Sandy Franzen.

A copy of Lincoln’s book can be found here at the following link or Amazon or where Veterans for Peace Madison might be tabling.

Undaunted: The Story of a United States Navy Tug and Her Crew…by Grahlfs, F. Lincoln

Picture credits to Larry, Phil and Tom

Members of Madison Veterans for Peace joined a large crowd today to celebrate the 100th birthday of Lincoln Grahlfs, our oldest member currently. Lincoln served in the US Navy during and after World War II.

After the war, he was at the infamous US nuclear weapons tests on Bikini and Eniwetok Atolls in the Pacific, receiving much radiation. Many of his buddies died too young, but he has survived and fought for better health care for veterans suffering from nuclear exposure. During the Summer of 2022, US President Joe Biden called him to Washington DC, to witness the signing of a bill mandating that care.

– Larry

It was a wonderful party for Lincoln

Who celebrated his 100th birthday

With so many friends and family.

Lincoln was recently honored with
A personal meeting with President
Biden at the White House for his work
With the veterans who survived the
Atomic testing programs held after
WWll.

Members of Madison’s Clarence
Kailin chapter 25 Veterans For Peace
Were on hand to honor their most
Distinguished member.

– Tom Glassel

 

A War Veteran Recounts His Journey to Becoming a Sociologist (asanet.org)

Lincoln during the war. We were all so young during our wars. Some are forever young.

National World War II Museum oral historian Hannah Dailey talks about “atomic veterans” and interviews four veterans including Lincoln Grahlfs

Veterans and Nuclear Radiation Exposure | C-SPAN.org

 

Joan and Lincoln Grahlfs

 

“F. Lincoln Grahlfs, a World War II Navy veteran, is a sociologist who has studied the effects of radiation exposure on United States military veterans. He has served as president of the National Association of Radiation Survivors.”

Veterans of US Atomic Age Deserve Compensation (militarytimes.com)

 

 

Lincoln and President Joe Biden Summer 2022

The President signed a 2-year extension of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), which provides partial restitution to Downwinders, atomic veterans, and uranium workers exposed to radiation. – Lilly Adams

 

Lincoln’s ship putting out fires on one of the expendable ships that was anchored near ground zero of an atomic bomb test.

“The United States conducted nearly 200 atmospheric nuclear weapons development tests between 1945 and 1962 spreading radiation across several Western states and the South Pacific. All the while, the Atomic Energy Commission insisted to surrounding residents: “There is no danger.”

‘Downwinders’ ignored despite radiation fallout from US nuke tests – Responsible Statecraft

 

“Floating on a U.S. Navy tugboat in the Pacific Ocean nearly a year after the end of World War II, Lincoln Grahlfs and his shipmates could hear a countdown over a radio, signaling their mission would soon begin.

The sailors were told to cover their eyes with their hands before the countdown hit zero. Four hours later and wearing no protective gear, Grahlfs and his ship traveled 11 miles through Bikini Atoll to ground zero of where the United Stated military had tested a nuclear weapon.

The crew was tasked with putting out fires on empty ships used as targets and towing those that hadn’t sunk to shallower waters for examination. More than 75 years after cleaning up the aftermath of two atomic tests in the central Pacific, the Madison resident has used his personal experience to advocate for ridding the world of nuclear weapons and on behalf of fellow veterans exposed to dangerous radiation…”

 

‘You can’t live with them’: Madison WWII vet exposed to atomic testing warns about nuclear weapons

Wisconsin State Journal