Peace! and laughter

Easter is traditionally associated with peace. Here’s a wonderful old news reel. It’s September 1943, in the middle of WWII, and Mrs. Eleanore Roosevelt, the First Lady, is standing on a stage, in uniform, telling a humanitarian joke.

http://www.archive.org/details/1943-09-30_Mrs_FDR_Tells_One

“Just as the Marines were in order to leave Guadalcanal, an officer found a private (Gefreiter), feeling very sad and looking very depressed. Then he said, “What’s the matter with you?” And he said, “Oh, I just can’t go home. I haven’t shot a Jap (Japanese)!” So the officer said, “Well, listen! I’ll tell you what to do. You go up to that ridge (Felsgrat, Bergrücken) over there. Jump up, all of a sudden, and say ‘To hell with Hirohito!’ They’ll jump up, the other people all around, and if you shoot first, you’ll get a Jap!”

So he came by a little while later, and he was still looking very gloomy (traurig) and he said,”Did you do what I told you?” “Yes, Sir! I ran up there, and I said what you told me to say, and I said, ‘To hell with Hirohito!’ And they jumped up, as you said they would, but they all shouted, “To hell with Roosevelt!”

The Internet Archive site was recommended by veryshortlist.com.