A former paratrooper and Green Beret, Michael McCann knows what he’s singing about in Soldiers’ Songs. Beginning as an album of songs from 8 wars, Soldiers' Songs evolved into a presentation of the music histories of WWI, WWII and Vietnam with audiences ranging from students to seniors. Drawing on his combat experience, knowledge of military history and his satchel of songs written by and about soldiers, Michael tells powerful stories about these wars from the soldiers’ perspective.
 
“Michael gave a workshop on the soldier songs of World War I to a group of educators at the Yale-Hopkins Summer Institute on World War I. Mike's interactive presentation was well-received and given the highest rating. I would highly recommend it for both student and teacher groups.”
 

Stephen Armstrong
Teacher/Instructional Leader of Social Studies, Manchester Public Schools
Adjunct Instructor of History, Central CT State University
Master Teacher, Teaching United States History Grant, CREC

 
"Thank you for a wonderful performance.  You touched the hearts and memories of each person in our senior center audience.  I could feel the interest of the whole group."
 

Joanne Byrne, Senior Services Coordinator, Town of Orange, CT.

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 On Christmas, 1914, British and German soldiers along the Western Front walked into No Man's Land and celebrated Christmas together. 

“Just you think”, wrote one soldier to his family, “that while you were eating your turkey, I was out talking to the very men I had been trying to kill a few hours before!  It was astounding!”

This haunting story of peace in the midst of war is told in John McCutcheon's masterful song, "Christmas in the Trenches".(see CD page)

From the Hartford Courant, Obituary, November 22, 2005:  "Alfred Anderson, the last surviving soldier to have heard the guns fall silent along the Western Front during the spontaneous Christmas Truce of World War I, died Monday at age 109."

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Copyright 2005, Michael McCann.  All rights reserved.

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