Posted on Nov 28, 2015
What is your most memorable Christmas while deployed?
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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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Mine was when I was stationed at Kunsan AB, Korea. I was missing my husband and did not plan on coming back to the states for a mid-tour as I was afraid that I would not come back. I sat on Santa's lap on base and told him that I wanted my husband to be with me for Christmas. Well, after that I made arrangements for him to fly to Korea and stay in my dorm room. That made my Christmas, even though he came there after the new year. That really helped get me through the Christmas season.
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As a member of the U.S. Army in December 1968, I was having Christmas Dinner just south of the Korean DMZ at Camp Casey, Korea. We had REAL eggnog, flown in from California! (“Real” as opposed to the milk we usually had, which was shipped to Korea as powder, and “reconstituted" in the Army Milk Factory in Seoul, replacing the butterfat with coconut oil. It tasted OK if it was really cold, but if not it tasted like plastic). I was amazed that the Army made that effort to make Christmas "special"!
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PFC David Tomlinson
3 years later, I was at Camp Pelham, about 25 km away. We didn't eat anywhere near as good, LOL
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Laying in the snow all night in the alps with my M16. I was APC driver, my sgt. wouldn’t let me sleep in it. Didn’t mind too much, APC had a terrible stink. No showers for couple of weeks for 8 infantry. 1970
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I am not sure if it was Christmas day, but I was at a Navy LT house, who was a coach for the Rugby team I played for while doing two years and four months overseas. He had a wife and two children. one girl and one boy. His son graduated WestPoint a few years back. We had dinner and exchanged gifts.
We would travel a ferry about two miles across the Lock to go to practice and games. I would work Fridays and Sundays to get time off for Rugby.
My time there was made easier with his company and well as a Scotsman Mr. Morgan. He was my teammate. A lot of my time was spent on special weapon transfers. In the worst conditions I would expect men to be working in.
Pam Am 103 was blown out of the sky while I was there. It landed somewhere between 15 to 30 miles southeast of our position. Women and children were targeted for being married to our service personnel.
Over and out.
We would travel a ferry about two miles across the Lock to go to practice and games. I would work Fridays and Sundays to get time off for Rugby.
My time there was made easier with his company and well as a Scotsman Mr. Morgan. He was my teammate. A lot of my time was spent on special weapon transfers. In the worst conditions I would expect men to be working in.
Pam Am 103 was blown out of the sky while I was there. It landed somewhere between 15 to 30 miles southeast of our position. Women and children were targeted for being married to our service personnel.
Over and out.
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In 1965 I got a chance to see the Bob Hope Christmas show in Danang. It was pouring rain but nobody cared. It was a great break from what was happening in Vietnam. I still have vivid memories of the day.
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Early 1980's Christmas eve. Uss Midway home ported in Japan . I walked the streets of yokosuka thinking about my family in California, My.Mom Dad Brothers and sister. It was my first Christmas away from home. As a young man I felt so lonely. So I put on my Walkman, listening to the BeeGees I walked for miles that night.
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Having spent 33 years in the Navy, I have been assigned to a number of different ships. I have been deployed many times over the years and more than a few of those have been over holidays. We have always managed to be in port somewhere which allowed phone communication with the home front, if not having loved ones visit that port EXCEPT that one deployment to Desert Shield/Storm. Christmas was spent making best speed in the South China Sea with a sixteen ship amphibious task force headed for Persian Gulf. We were allowed some battery powered directions, but no contact home and no visitation from loved ones. I really remember that Christmas.
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Christmas Day 2006 at FOB Shield in Baghdad: we had the day off from our duties as part of the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior transition team and decided to have a Christmas party and share all of our care packages from the folks back home. While in my hooch gathering mine from over the past month or so, I came across a box of Cheerios that one of my old P-3 squadronmates from Jacksonville sent earlier that year. I had set it aside because of the dearth of good breakfast chow at the DFAC. I decided to bring it along, but noticed that the box "sloshed" when it was shaken. And lo, there came a welcomed harbinger of Christmas Spirits, in spite of CENTOM’s General Order Number One forbidding said spirits: My thoughtful and resourceful friend had neatly hidden a pint of Jim Beam inside the box and carefully resealed its top with a glue gun. Thankfully, it had slipped undetected by the not-so-diligent Booze Police.
Needless to say, that was one item I did not share with my group on the FOB. No problem falling asleep that night!
Needless to say, that was one item I did not share with my group on the FOB. No problem falling asleep that night!
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