Saturday, December 24, 2011

A Heartfelt Christmas Memory From 1969

A high school classmate writes of a Christmas he spent in a danger zone on the other side of the world in 1969:
The year is 1969, still at Fire Support Base Hunter, Viet Nam. It is hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it is 90 degrees every day. With Christmas coming we were receiving tons of cards, letter, packages with home made cookies, which we all ate, and many 3foot pre decorated Christmas trees. On Christmas eve we sat around, talking about what our families were probably doing, what they were having to eat....what their traditions were.....a group of guys decided to go around singing Christmas songs, they started near us and it sounded pretty good. You have to understand, there is no noise....it is quiet at night, no lights, only the moon if it was out....so as the group moved around the fire base and got on the other side, we could hear their voices gently singing in the night......It was one of the most moving and emotional times for all of us. A little later, the radio relay station on top of the only mountain in the area decided to start shooting off red and green flares, what a show....so not to be outdone all the fire support bases in the area did the same thing....it was a great display. Christmas is a difficult time to be away from home, but when you are with people who are family, and remain so til today, I am glad I had the chance to share it with them. I wish all my brothers and their families a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us, Joe!

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