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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 12/25/2002 12:01:10 AM PST by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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 The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, my daughter beside me, angelic in rest. Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a winter delight. The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe, Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve. My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep in perfect contentment, or so it would seem. So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.  The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, But I opened my eye when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow. My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, and I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.  "What are you doing?" I asked without fear "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!" For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts, to the window that danced with a warm fire's light then he sighed and he said "Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night" "Its my duty to stand at the front of the line, that separates you from the darkest of times. No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.  My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December," then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers." My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam And now it is my turn and so, here I am. I've not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile. Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red white and blue... an American flag. "I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home, I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat, I can carry the weight of killing another or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers who stand at the front against any and all, to insure for all time that this flag will not fall."  "So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright Your family is waiting and I'll be all right." "But isn't there something I can do, at the least, "Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast? It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son." Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us, and never forget To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone. To stand your own watch, no matter how long. For when we come home, either standing or dead, to know you remember we fought and we bled is payment enough, and with that we will trust. That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.  Merry Christmas
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That's Dads job on Christmas isn't it?
My thanks to all US Veterans, both wartime and peacetime, who served their nation faithfully for all of us Americans to enjoy the blessings of liberty. May God bless all of you richly!
While I was enjoying my very first Christmas in Texas, this group of Navy personnel was chasing Japanese subs in the South Pacific!
The officers and crew of the USS SC-761, Christmas Day, 1943, at Lautoka, Fiji Islands.
To learn more about this crew, click USS SC-761
Christmas in the Trenches
by John McCutcheon
My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from Liverpool.
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after school.
To Belgium and to Flanders, to Germany to here
I fought for King and country I love dear.
'Twas Christmas in the trenches, where the frost so bitter hung,
The frozen fields of France were still, no Christmas song was sung
Our families back in England were toasting us that day
Their brave and glorious lads so far away.
I was lying with my messmate on the cold and rocky ground
When across the lines of battle came a most peculiar sound
Says I, "Now listen up, me boys!" each soldier strained to hear
As one young German voice sang out so clear.
"He's singing bloody well, you know!" my partner says to me
Soon, one by one, each German voice joined in harmony
The cannons rested silent, the gas clouds rolled no more
As Christmas brought us respite from the war
As soon as they were finished and a reverent pause was spent
"God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" struck up some lads from Kent
The next they sang was "Stille Nacht." "Tis 'Silent Night'," says I
And in two tongues one song filled up that sky
"There's someone coming toward us!" the front line sentry cried
All sights were fixed on one long figure trudging from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shown on that plain so bright
As he, bravely, strode unarmed into the night
Soon one by one on either side walked into No Man's Land
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave 'em hell
We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of their own
Young Sanders played his squeezebox and they had a violin
This curious and unlikely band of men
Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more
With sad farewells we each prepared to settle back to war
But the question haunted every heart that lived that wondrous night
"Whose family have I fixed within my sights?"
'Twas Christmas in the trenches where the frost, so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs of peace were sung
For the walls they'd kept between us to exact the work of war
Had been crumbled and were gone forevermore
My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War I, I've learned its lessons well
That the ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we're the same
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Christmas in Saudi Arabia
 U.S. military personnel head back to duty Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2002, at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, after having a Christmas meal . (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)  Staff Sgt. Heather Hutton, 24, of Tucson, Arizona, picks up packages containing Christmas gifts from home that arrived for members of their unit from a truck parked near a post office building Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2002, at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)  U.S. military personnel line up outside 'Rolling Sands' mess hall Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2002, at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, to have a Christmas meal of turkey, roast beef and all the trimmings. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)  U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman poses for pictures with U.S. military men and women Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2002, at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. Lieberman paid a Christmas visit to the troops, thanking them for putting the United States in a position to challenge Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) to 'live by the promises he made at the end of the Gulf war.' (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)
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Christmas in Kuwait
 U.S. Army soldier Sgt. Javier Vila from Puerto Rico, left, of the Alpha Company 464 battalion, jokes with man dressed as Santa Claus during a Christmas event at Camp Pennsylvania in the Kuwaiti desert, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2002. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)  U.S. Army soldiers PVC Marcelino Alvarez from Brooklyn, NY., left, and Carl Olive from Memphis, Tenn., joke with a toy camel atop their armored vehicle during a Christmas event at Camp Pennsylvania in the Kuwaiti desert, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2002. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)  U.S. Army soldiers huddle between plays during an American football match at Camp New York in the Kuwaiti desert, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2002. Taking a break from the standoff with Iraq, U.S. soldiers celebrated Christmas in the Kuwaiti desert with football, turkey and trimmings Wednesday. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)  U.S. Army soldiers play a game of basketball on Christmas Day at Camp Pennsylvania, in the Kuwaiti desert December 25, 2002. There are some 12,000 U.S. troops in Kuwait for training, many within just five kilometers (3 miles) of the Iraqi border. REUTERS/Chris Helgren
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Christmas at Sea
 Rick Pelliciotti, Warrant Officer, 33, from Follanshee, Wv., center, dresses as Santa, attends a Christmas holiday gospel choir concert performed by other members of the crew. The concert was performed in the forward part of the ship, better known as the foc'sle, where the ship's anchor is kept. Constellation, which is in the region to support Operation Southern Watch, stopped launching any war planes Tuesday and its crew will serve a special Christmas dinner of roast beef, turkey and ham. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)  Crew members on board aircraft carrier USS Constellation enjoy a Christmas holiday gospel choir concert performed by other crew members, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2002. The concert was performed in the forward part of the ship, better known as the foc'sle, where the ship's anchor is kept. USS Constellation, which is in the region to support Operation Southern Watch, stopped launching war planes on Tuesday to allow the crew to celebrate Christmas a day early. It will conduct regular operations on Dec. 25. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)  Cpt. John W. Miller, commanding officer of the USS Constellation, second right, cuts a cake with some unidentified members of his crew for Christmas dinner on the aircraft carrier Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2002. The 5,000 sailors and airmen aboard the carrier celebrated Christmas a day early, eating roast turkey, baked Virginia ham and cornbread and exchanging greetings with a soldier dressed as Santa who roamed the flight deck.They had received orders to conduct regular operations on Christmas.(AP Photo/Amr Nabil)  Anthony Ridings, of Meredosia, Ill., center, shares Christmas dinner with other crew members of the aircraft carrier USS Constellation in the Gulf region Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2002. The crew was served a special Christmas dinner of roast turkey, ham and cornbread. The USS Constellation, which supports Operation Southern Watch, stopped launching war planes on Tuesday but will resume regular operations Wednesday, Dec. 25. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
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Dear Santa,
My wish for Christmas is for the Veterans Administration to adjudicate the claims filed by veterans for disability benefits resulting from service connected injuries. The Veterans Administration has the resources to adjudicate claims promptly and does so for those whose claims are notsupported by the medical evidence and are therefore denied.
For veterans with claims supported by medical evidence, delay in the adjudication of those claims is standard practice. My three-year-old claim of disability is fully supported by the evidence but has yet to be adjudicated. I am only one of hundreds, if not thousands, of veterans who are crippled by our military service but not eligible for benefits solely because the Veterans Administration will not process our claims.
Social Security processes disability claims within a few months while veterans wait years without a decision of denial or affirmation. While we wait, our conditions worsen, our suffering increases, and we are left without recourse except to plead with you, Santa, because the Veterans Administration is not ``Semper Fi'' to those whom have served their country and have been injured while doing so.
ROY DOWNEY
FREEDOM, CA
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