Wishing all our veterans a very merry Christmas
It’s that time of year again. The holiday season is upon us. This festive time of year is eagerly anticipated so we can celebrate the Christmas season with families and loved ones. Our Christmas trees are decorated with keepsake ornaments that remind us of past Christmas celebrations, and new ones to commemorate events or new additions to our families. We look forward to opening the presents under the tree, hoping that the secret Santa brings joyful gifts. Even the pets get presents. How cool is that? Yep... even they get to celebrate.
This time of year evokes memories for us veterans. For me, the holiday season starts with Veterans Day, knowing that Thanksgiving is just around the corner. In short order Christmas will be here, leaving us in a panic to finish our shopping that we vowed to finish early this year. The memories of spending Christmas in foreign lands, aboard a ship at sea, or here at home doing our duty to keep America safe, makes our time serving our country worthwhile.
I have met quite a few veterans at ceremonies and school assemblies. Pretty amazing stories come from these humble men and women. One sailor I met at the Lake City High School Veterans Day assembly told me that he spent time dockside on watch in Dubai on Christmas Eve. He said although he missed the time with his buddies, he was proud to do his duty so his shipmates could celebrate. At the Pearl Harbor Assembly at Winton Elementary, I met an Army combat vet who told me he spent Christmas a few times in combat zones. He is still serving, and personally I am glad he and the young sailor are on duty, taking care of us here at home.
A Christmas story by machine gunner Lee Miracle and Platoon Leader Terry Bender is about their experience in Vietnam in 1967. They were soldiers in a Recon Platoon code named “Fox Force” in the 4th Infantry Division. Several days before Christmas 1967, the platoon was sent out on patrol. It was monsoon season and they were “soaked to the point that your skin begins to wrinkle.” They moved to a hilltop position overlooking a rice paddy with a wide trail running alongside of it. At daybreak, while cleaning their weapons and eating whatever food they could scrounge up (they were short on supplies due to the weather inhibiting choppers for resupply), a soldier on guard duty spotted a lone Vietnamese soldier emerging on the trail from the tree line. He stepped back into the tree line, and reappeared a few moments later with several others. The soldier was walking point and was followed by what “looked like ants lined up along the rice paddy.”
A fire fight ensued, and after it was over, the 25 men of Fox Force were to board choppers to take them to LZ Thunder, their base near Chu Lai. Well, the choppers were grounded, but one made it through and “kicked some C Rations and ammo out of the door as they flew by.”
“At least we could finally eat and protect ourselves,” said Miracle.
Finally the weather broke in the late afternoon of Christmas Eve and choppers were able to pick them up, only to be diverted to help Bravo Company, which was pinned down. After helping Bravo Company, they boarded choppers and made it to LZ Thunder, where they stayed in abandoned bunkers. They scrounged up some candles and sang Christmas carols, accompanied by one of the guys who bummed a guitar from a soldier stationed there.
Miracle said, “There was supposed to be a ceasefire because my parents sent me copies of the newspaper articles saying so. The next day...Christmas Day, however, we were up and out at the crack of dawn, heading back to the field, eating ham and limas again. The Vietnamese had broken the so-called ceasefire. Hell, we already knew that.”
This Christmas, please remember that we have military personnel on duty around the world. To them, and all of us who served wishing we were home, here is a song made famous by Bing Crosby. If we could not be home, at least we were there in spirit!
I’ll be home for Christmas
You can plan on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents under the tree
Christmas Eve will find you
Where the love light gleams
I’ll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams
Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love light gleams
I’ll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams
Merry Christmas, everybody!
Jack Evensizer is a resident of Dalton Gardens.