We thought that these days following ANZAC Day would be an appropriate time to share this moving story. I hope you enjoy it as I did.
The man who stopped the war with a violin
His name was Ian Pringle.
The place was Monte Cassino.
The time was late at night. The date was sometimes in 1944 when the battle for the town continued, both night and day, with heavy street fighting taking place.
I remember this time especially because of the very late hour when I had no serious work to do myself, nor did Ian who was the 2 inch mortar operator with my platoon. Ian happened to be an accomplished violinist, and was a special friend of mine also.
The violin had been found in the basement of the house and was shown to him as the only known violinist present in the building at this time. Ian tuned the instrument and decided to play it. The music he chose was classical and very beautiful. It was a well-known piece, which was familiar to me, but I cannot now remember what it was.
In the meantime the noise of battle was reaching a crescendo with much shouting, hand grenades exploding, and machine guns firing. Ian started to play the instrument most beautifully!
He had only played a few notes when the battle noises ceased! All that could be heard was the sound of the lovely music, which was certainly being listened to by the people on both sides of the conflict.
When he had finished, strangely enough, there were the sounds of applause coming from both sides, and a short period of silence, before the war started again!
I asked Ian whether it was a very good instrument, and he told me it was a beautiful one, and I asked him what he proposed to do with it. His reply was, that the person who had originally found it, would be asked to return it to exactly where he had found it in the first place, in the hope that its rightful owner would return after the battle, and retrieve his violin.
Account submitted by Lawson Pitcher,
7th Platoon 24th Infantry Battalion,
2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
1 comments:
Thank you for sharing this lovely story. I can just image the contrast of the hush while, with held breath, the soldiers would listen to the strains of the violin, as opposed to the din of war. If only the sound of violins all over the world could bring peace forever. Just this morning it struck me that the 'world' page in the newspaper had only stories of dissent, mayhem and death. Is there not anything good to report?
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