MY TURN: Remember our heroes on Christmas

The holiday season is here, with our thoughts turning to celebrations with family and friends.

Festive decorations adorn our homes, neighborhoods and our community. As festivities begin, holiday lights beam a radiant message of celebration and good cheer.

The season begins with Thanksgiving, a time of giving thanks for all we have. Our families gather at the table, filled with a feast fit for a king and toast our good fortune. We remember our ancestors who sat at our table and relish the young ones learning about family traditions. The little ones sometimes need a little help with the mashed potatoes and manage to get more on their face than in their stomach, but their smile tells it all. They enjoy eating with their family.

For some families, there is an empty chair at the table. Some empty chairs remind us of a loved one on duty in a foreign land, on the high seas or in the air, serving our great country with a patriotism only known to military members. Gold Star families lament their loved ones lost in war, but they are honored and remembered during this time of year. Their empty chair is filled with love and memories of a cherished family member.

Many have spent Christmas in combat zones. The Battle of the Bulge, the German incursion into allied lines, from Dec. 16, 1944, to Jan. 25, 1945, is a solemn reminder of our troops in battle at Christmas. By Dec. 21 that year, Germans had surrounded the Belgian town of Bastogne, defended by our 101st Airborne Division, which was short on food, ammo and medical supplies. The German commander, Heinrich Freiherr von Luttwitz, demanded surrender. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, commander of the 101st, sent the reply “NUTS,” the morale booster that had to be explained to the Germans and non-American Allies alike.

On Christmas day, Hitler’s XLVII Panzer Corps launched an assault on individual positions on the perimeter of the 101st, but was defeated and its tanks destroyed. Soldiers on both sides surely remember that Christmas!

For families with troopers still in harm’s way, holiday wishes will be with them. From distant lands, a Christmas song will be in the hearts of our warriors, steadfastly doing their duty:

"I’ll be home for Christmas

You can count on me

Please have snow and mistletoe

And presents under the tree

Christmas Eve will find me

Where the love light beams

I’ll be home for Christmas

If only in my dreams."

Merry Christmas, everybody!

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Jack Evensizer is a Dalton Gardens resident and veteran of the U.S. Army Infantry.