December 24th, 1944.

You’re a thousand miles from home, huddled in a foxhole. Waiting, in the frigid cold with your platoon, for the next battle to erupt. Though you’re only nineteen years old, you’ve already seen more death than most people will ever see in their entire lives.

A few months earlier, at Normandy, you watched most of your original platoon get cut down by machine gun fire while the ocean turned blood-red around you. You fought through the hedgerows of Fortress Europe, praying you’d make it home one day.

You’d made it through one day at a time, and now it was Christmas Eve—a day that would’ve been marked with celebrations back home. Looking around, you see no trace of anything joyful. War’s horrors cloud your mind.

A couple days ago, your fire team had been passing the time talking about each of your families and how much everyone missed spending Christmas back home. You could see the sparkle of pride in your buddy’s eyes as he passed around a recently-arrived photograph of his newborn son.

A tear forms in your eyes thinking about it now. Your buddy was killed yesterday in an artillery attack. He would never get to hold his baby boy or spend Christmas at home again.

You clench your teeth. The reality of war is pain, and you understand that better than anyone your age should. All you want is to be home for just five minutes—to wake up to a peaceful snowfall instead of the thundering echo of battle; to hear the sound of children’s laughter instead of the screams of soldiers as their bodies are torn apart; to be with your loved ones instead of killing the enemy.

You close your eyes and dream of Christmas as you once knew it, when there was no war and fighting. You start to hum softly.

“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know…”

Can you imagine being in that position? I know I can’t.

But for many American soldiers during World War Two, that was what they faced.

During the four Christmas seasons America spent fighting WWII, thousands of our homes and families were apart. Some faced Christmas tables that were permanently altered due to the death of the son or husband they sent off to war. Some Americans spent Christmas hoping and praying that the blue star that hung in their window would never be replaced by one that was gold.

For Americans on the frontlines, they faced unimaginable hardships and trials. Sailors and Marines in the Pacific Theater faced tropical storms and disease. Soldiers and Airmen in the European Theatre faced ice and frostbite so bad that many times it ended in amputations.

American servicemen in both theaters bore the burden of war and its horrors. They saw the brutality of battle. They spent Christmas fighting enemies that thrived on death, blood, and hatred.

In the midst of the heart-rending reality many of them faced, stood a special beacon of hope and homesick longing. It was Irving Berlin’s song, White Christmas.

White Christmas, renowned for its somewhat melancholy tune and sentimental words, is a song that is extremely nostalgic for many Americans. But many of us don’t realize the sentimental value of the song.

Irving Berlin, one of America’s most beloved song writers, was a Russian-born immigrant. He made a career for himself in the music industry, writing songs for some of the most popular movies of his era, among which was White Christmas.

In 1928, Berlin’s wife gave birth to their baby boy. The Berlin family was ecstatic over their new son. Their joy was cut short when three weeks later, on Christmas Day, their little baby died.

From that year on, Berlin and his wife spent every Christmas Day visiting the grave of their baby boy.

Berlin penned the words to the song White Christmas while grieving his son’s death. This provided the atmosphere of longing and nostalgia that is present in the music.

Later, Berlin brushed up the song for the musical film Holiday Inn, which was to be released in 1942. As Bing Crosby and the rest of the cast were knee deep in preparing for the filming and release of Holiday Inn, Pearl Harbor was attacked.

The entire nation was shaken by the reality of war, and instantly hundreds of young men enlisted in the armed forces. Irving Berlin realized just how much the nation was hurting this first Christmas after joining the war. He enlisted Bing Crosby to perform White Christmas on the radio. It was the first time America heard this beloved song.

It hit very close to home for a nation reeling in pain and loss. America was staring into the face of a daunting and unknown future. Being reminded of the Christmases of days gone by placed a fervor within Americans to emerge victorious in the war.

By Christmas of 1942, thousands of our soldiers found themselves overseas, fighting a war that was as bloody as it would be long. Armed Forces Radio brought White Christmas to the soldiers and sailors on the front lines. It maintained its special place in their hearts.

Bing Crosby spent 26 weeks performing overseas with the USO during WWII. Of all of the songs he sang, White Christmas was by far the most requested. He later reminisced that he didn’t want to sing White Christmas for the troops overseas and even tried to avoid it, because he didn’t want to make them sad.

“I hesitated about doing it because invariably it caused such a nostalgic yearning among the men, that it made them sad. Heaven knows, I didn’t come that far to make them sad. For this reason, several times I tried to cut it out of the show, but these guys just hollered for it.”

Bing Crosby

It did make the troops sad because it reminded them that they were thousands of miles from home, but it was those thoughts of home that kept them fighting through the darkest circumstances.

By the end of WWII, White Christmas had become the best selling song of all time, and continues to hold that title today.

It was sung in the foxholes of Europe and the pillboxes of the Pacific. It was broadcast over the airwaves of Bomber planes and US Naval ships. It carried us through WWII and, long after the guns fell silent, it stayed at the heart of American Christmases.

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Did you know the tragic circumstances that surrounded the words to White Christmas? Did you enjoy the video? Let me know in the comments!

A. M. Watson

Hebrews 13:8