I have spent only one Christmas away from home. It was 1968 in a place called Vietnam. Weeks in advance, I began to experience the loneliness with poignant visions, thinking of Christmas back home.
On Christmas eve, we read in the media where our troops were “standing down” for the holiday. Yet our 12-hour shifts never let up, with missions around the clock as usual. We lost three great guys Christmas Day. Christmas eve was hard to bear. I retired to the privacy of my bunk, trying to shut out a bunch of untalented GIs singing “Silent Night.” Despite the noise, I finally drifted off into my dreams of home and my own silent night.
This Christmas season, please remember our guys serving abroad — especially in the war zones. Perhaps no time in their young lives will be as difficult. God bless and Merry Christmas.
James W. Anderson
Talladega, Ala.
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