Share your favorite photo or memory from a Thanksgiving you spent away from home

I had just finished Armor Training in 1962 and I was in transit to Korea. I was 18 years old at the time and in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a Troop Ship. It was very unique experience.
That was followed up by the return trip by Troop Ship in1963 and in the middle of the Pacific Ocean again on Thanksgiving.
I was having breakfast at the replacement center before being transported to the ship when the news came over the radio that President Kennedy had just been assassinated.
Two Thanksgivings that I will remember forever.

One of my most favorite times was when I was serving in Afghanistan. My NATO- DCG I worked for we went to visit troops in Herat to serve troops on Thanksgiving day. It was a joy mingling with the Soldiers, Airman and Marines that day talking with them, finding out about them and serving them. They had some very healthy appetites as they ate all of the Thanksgiving food and when we were finally done the Mess Hall staff had to find something to scrounge up to feed our staff. It was all worth it though to see all the smiling faces of the Military personnel after they had finished eating!!

Thanksgiving 1070. Marble Mountain Viet Nam (Just outside DaNang.) I flew that day as a gunner on an H-46 with Marine Squadron HMM262. We started early delivering Thanksgiving dinner to grunts in the field and later picking up the insulated boxes they were in. Thought we would be done around 1800. Turns out a lot started happening and by the time we called it a day it was close to 2400. The pilot had the tower call the chow hall and they said they would break out some food to feed us. They did. Canned turkey, instant mashed potatoes, some kind of vegetable. To this day it was the best tasting Thanksgiving meal I have ever had.

It’s 1970, I’m a 22 year old, Infantry squad leader, in a front line rifle company, deep in the jungles of Vietnam somewhere near the Cambodian border. Twelve thousand miles away from home. I have never been away from home on thanksgiving before.
It is raining, it has been raining straight for maybe three or four days. We are all covered in mud. I don’t know what day it is and neither does anyone else.
We are waiting to get resupplied. Our captain tells us a chopper is coming, clear an area. That command was unusual because usually they just fly over and drop out supplies since we are in such a Vietcong infested area and Charlie loves to hit choppers.
But this time a chopper lands and men get out carrying large green thermo-containers and to our amazement they set up a chow line right here in the middle of the jungle. We then hustle through the line which has hot turkey and all the fixings. We gobble it all down in no time. Then they quickly gather it all up. Run back on board the chopper and take off.
My buddy turns to me and says, “do you know what they are doing back home right now? They are watching football”. That’s when it hit me it was Thanksgiving! Yea, one I’ll never forget.

1968 at Fire Support Base 22 (3rd/7th Battalion, 199th Lt Inf Brigade), south of Saigon, west of Binh Chanh, I didn't finish up and make it to the mess tent until everyone one had eaten and left. The cooks were cleaning up. The cooks unpacked the food and made me my own special thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. I ate alone at a table while they finished cleaning up, but I really felt special that they would do that for me, not just throw me a C ration.

Just now all of the memories are flowing back into my head, but that was a good memory that stuck with me. It was years before I would ever eat on a paper plate again with plastic utensils.

If anyone from the 179th MID, 199th Lt Inf Brigade reads this, please contact me. I'd love to her from you.

Alan Hildebrant
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Thank you for the share RallyPoint Team , unfortunately I have no way of sending a picture, thank you though for the great share.

Thanksgiving must have been. Like any other day. After 9 months we got a new top. He asked me when was the last day off for us. I responded. Day off.

November, 1968: I was newly arrived at the 7th Infantry Division's base, Camp Casey, in Tongduchon, South Korea. The milk served in our dining hall was "reconstituted". It was shipped to Korea as powdered milk, and "reconstituted" back to liquid at a U.S. Army Milk Plant in Seoul, and then shipped out to the various installations. The "reconstitution" however, used coconut oil to replace the milk fats removed in CONUS. If it was REALLY cold, it tasted fine, but if it was LESS than REALLY cold, it tasted like "plastic". On Thanksgiving Day, however, we were pleased to partake of eggnog that had been made from REAL milk, and airlifted to Korea from Hawaii. I was impressed that the Army would go to those lengths to make Thanksgiving special. The kind act was repeated for BOTH Christmases and the next Thanksgiving that I was in Korea!

It was Thanksgiving 1969 while serving as a Medic with the 82nd Airborne in Vietnam. The unit was on Stand Down getting ready to return to Fort Bragg at that time and there was plenty of turkey with all of the traditional side dishes to go with it. Though I would not be returning to the world at that time, I had just learned I would be reassigned to work in an Evacuation Hospital, so plenty to be thankful for.
Gerald Gabriel 1SG Retired

I was in boot camp in 1980 from October to December. There was another recruit who was from the Orlando area and he was allowed to have Thanksgiving dinner with his family. He was allowed to take one other recruit with him and he picked me!

I am a lifelong Dallas Cowboy fan and had never missed watching the Thanksgiving game, I was once again able to watch the game on Thanksgiving thanks to the Navy and my friend. I can't recall who played them or the score but I will never forget the experience of his family sharing their dinner with me!