Posted on Nov 28, 2015
What is your most memorable Christmas while deployed?
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2011 Christmas Lights- Thank You Troops and Veterans! Thanks for Your Votes!
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We sure didn't have the wherewithal all to decorate our hooches like this in Vietnam, but one of the parents of one of my men owned an Italian restaurant in Indianapolis and they sent all the table decorations and stuff to make a helluva Christmas dinner. I and my driver stole a case of frozen steaks from the ration break down point at Long Binh and I horse traded at the mess hall for a lot of other "necessities". The young man who had grown up working in the family restaurant worked his buns off setting it all up and we had a very Merry Christmas despite missing friends and family at home. The leftovers (and they were ample) were donated to an orphanage at Ton Son Nhut. We also stuffed stockings for the orphans with everything we could find as well as small gifts our families sent from home. It became a contest to see who could make the biggest stocking. Have you ever stuffed an Army issue wool sock? They expanded so large that most were taller than the kids. That was Christmas 1967. The Tet Offensive began less than two months later...
We sure didn't have the wherewithal all to decorate our hooches like this in Vietnam, but one of the parents of one of my men owned an Italian restaurant in Indianapolis and they sent all the table decorations and stuff to make a helluva Christmas dinner. I and my driver stole a case of frozen steaks from the ration break down point at Long Binh and I horse traded at the mess hall for a lot of other "necessities". The young man who had grown up working in the family restaurant worked his buns off setting it all up and we had a very Merry Christmas despite missing friends and family at home. The leftovers (and they were ample) were donated to an orphanage at Ton Son Nhut. We also stuffed stockings for the orphans with everything we could find as well as small gifts our families sent from home. It became a contest to see who could make the biggest stocking. Have you ever stuffed an Army issue wool sock? They expanded so large that most were taller than the kids. That was Christmas 1967. The Tet Offensive began less than two months later...
Deployment
Vietnam War
Christmas
Memories
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 176
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1965 AnKhe center highlands supporting 1st Cav with ammo. Living in tents . !he army supplied us with a small Christmas tree and a few decorations. Looked out of place over there. I don't think our Christmas dinner was to great. We had a better thanksgiving dinner. We didn't have much of a messhall no reefers to keep thing cold. what we ate was mostly powdered or canned. to this day I don't eat spam. That was our main diet of meat 10lb. cans of spam. Semper Fi.
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There were so many Christmases I spent deployed, it's hard to answer the question. It was 1992 where the group of us decided the new Air Mobility Command really stood for Another Missed Christmas.
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My most memorable one was not filled with joyful memories. For me, it was horrific.
I was a USN E-5. Due to VC threats to kill any Americans, they saw everything was off-limits. I had been in-country a little over six months and was highly agitated about the curfew and having to wait to be shot before shooting (my interpretation of the Rules of Engagement).
I decided if I were going to die there, it would be on my terms. I donned all my combat gear. I had an M1911 on my hip and an M-14 locked and loaded.
The streets were empty. I walked the center of the main street in Vinh Long screaming every rude and insulting thing I could think of in Vietnamese, and when I exhausted that, I continued in English.
An hour or so later, seeing no one around, I stood at the traffic circle, yelled out, "I'm going to live!", then got off the street.
I was a USN E-5. Due to VC threats to kill any Americans, they saw everything was off-limits. I had been in-country a little over six months and was highly agitated about the curfew and having to wait to be shot before shooting (my interpretation of the Rules of Engagement).
I decided if I were going to die there, it would be on my terms. I donned all my combat gear. I had an M1911 on my hip and an M-14 locked and loaded.
The streets were empty. I walked the center of the main street in Vinh Long screaming every rude and insulting thing I could think of in Vietnamese, and when I exhausted that, I continued in English.
An hour or so later, seeing no one around, I stood at the traffic circle, yelled out, "I'm going to live!", then got off the street.
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One of the soldiers had the Jewish holidays off. When it came time for Christians to celebrate Christmas he took Christmas off as it was a national holiday. We worked both for him.
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As a US Navy veteran from the Viet Nam time period I was stationed on Guam. Our aircraft did deploy to Viet Nam. Not being part of an aircrew I really don't know what their mission was. I hope that they helped protect the personal on the ground. I became friends with a aircrew person from the station on Guam. During the Christmas time they did Santa drops for the dependent children that were there. Here is the only photo I took during one of those drops. This was December 1969.
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Santa Clause in the Hofbrau House in Munich, Germany with an Oommpah pah band.
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I was a medic with Bravo Co. 2/501st, 101 Airborne in Vietnam, 69-70. I recall we were just back from the field, at FB Bastogne for Christmas. That evening everyone was celebrating and kind of hanging loose. I walked all around the whole hill and where ever I went there was the smell and really a cloud of marijuana haze covering the whole place. It was awesome.
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Kneeling in the sand with about 30 Marines, Airmen, and Soldiers while a Catholic Priest Chaplain gave us a brief eulogy on Christmas morning. Mogadishu, Somalia. Ruins of the former US embassy compound. Marine snipers on the roof gave us over watch.seemed surreal.
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Christmas 1969 I was in Phu Hep, RVN. I had guard duty Christmas eve, in the rain. I sat there in my poncho thinking about my family back home. It was my first Christmas away from my family. I can't explain it, but I had a different outlook on my life up to that point ( it wasn't good ) and I think I became a better person after that night. In a lot of ways, it was the best Christmas of my life up to that point.
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