THE STORY BEHIND THE GRATITUDE TREE

Norway gives a gift to London every year in December. The city of Oslo gives a wonderful, 50-60 year old tree, and the tree is around 20 meters tall. The reason Norway gives this tree is because Norway want to show gratitude for Britain’s support during World War II.  It is kind of a “thank you” present, and shows Britain that Norway is very, very grateful for their support.

The tree stands in Trafalgar square. There is a lot of carol singing and program around the tree. People and organizations raise money for different charitable organizations. There is a plaque next to the tree saying; “The tree is given by the city of Oslo as a token of Norwegian gratitude to the people of London for their assistance during the years 1940-1945.”

The plaque next to the tree.

The tree is cut in November and sometimes there is a ceremony with the major of Oslo, the British ambassador and the Lord Major of Westminster. The tree is shipped to London over sea and sat up in Trafalgar square. The tree is always taken down on January 4^th 2013, chipped and composed for recycling as mulch.

If you are in London in December and want to see the lighting ceremony, the ceremony takes place in the evening in Trafalgar square the first Tuesday in December.

Giving this tree as a present to London has been a tradition since 1947 and as I said, Norway gives this present because we want to show gratitude to Britain who was one of the few countries who served the whole war and lost incredible many of their soldiers. Britain lost over 700 000 men in the war and Norway lost 11 000 people in captivity or in war. Without Britain, Norway probably would be a German speaking country. I think it is very important to be grateful and thankful for those who fought in the war, for those who fought and died for freedom and for those who lost someone they loved.
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We read stories from world war II in class today. The story I read was about a 7 year old girl telling her story about being 7 years old in 1939. She remebered walking home from church with her father right after the news about the war had broke out. She wrote about raising money with her family and her friends to the men on the sea. They arranged conserts in her backyard, but she did not remember what they preformed or what they did on the stage, but she rememberd the house being completly full with people. The girl also writes about bringing a gas-mask to school and everywhere she would go.

This is the link to the story i read:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/09/a1112509.shtml

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