Luton soldiers were party to the unofficial Christmas truce that here and there produced a rare few hours of Anglo-German peace amid the carnage on the western front in 1914.

Driver W. Messenger, of C Company, 2nd Bedfordshires, wrote to his parents Mr and Mrs H. Sills, of 115 Park Street, Luton: "We had a better Christmas than I thought we should. On Christmas morning the Germans shouted "Happy Christmas" to us, and we wished them one back.