Response to "Favorite holiday", a little true story.

My favorite holiday is still Christmas. I ignore all of the commercializing, the last minute shopping, the BS. I enjoyed it as a youngster, especially during the Great Depression AND also in Korea.

Here is a memory of my Christmas in Korea..

Christmas in Korea

December 24th, 1953. It was cold and lightly snowing. Midnight. It was my turn at doing guard duty.
My outfit was stationed north of the 38th parallel and above what was called “The farm line” No Koreans were allowed during the war but I suspected that would soon change as the truce was signed on July 27th., 1953.

The Sergeant of the Guard had shook me out of a a fitful sleep on this night, Christmas Eve.. We went through the normal changing of the Guard, and I was given a steel pot with liner and an M2 Carbine (one of only seven that our medical company was allowed) .It was time to do the duty. My four hour tour, walking the perimeter of the camp, would start on this Christmas Day at just after midnight.

I was thankful for the parka and the Mickey Mouse boots to keep me warm during this Korean night. For many GI's, in the previous years, both of these issues of clothing were not available and there were many GI and Marine casualties due to the extreme cold in the beginning of the war, especially at the Chosin Reservoir. After that bloody conflict, the war had slowed and the lines became stable. The fighting continued. however.

Although my company was never exposed to combat, we were close enough to hear the sounds of war.

Now, on Christmas Day, the night was silent except for the squeaking of snow under my boots. No booming artillery, no 50 cal machine gun rattling, no M1's sounding. Here in the 618th, everyone was sacked out except for the guards. The motor generator that furnished power for lights was not running. We were miles from any other outfit amd a long ways from the village of Uijongbu.

A total absence of light and a absence of sound.

I looked up. Millions of points of lights filled the night sky, The silence was so intense that I could hear the faint plopping of snowflakes as the touched the frozen ground. I stopped walking and scanned the area. The light from the stars faintly illuminated the hills.

My mind wandered, This must've been what it was like over 2,000 years ago when an event took place in Bethlehem that would change the world. I felt humbled and a sense of peace settled on me. My family, over 10,000 miles away, seemed very close that night.

Silent Night, Holy Night.

I shifted my slung M2 carbine to my other shoulder and my boots again broke the silence. It was a night that I remember to this day.