Christmas Sadness

In Vietnam, the saddest time of all were the holidays, being away from families, thinking about all the holiday activities back home. When we were back home, we might have thought the holiday season and all that comes with it was an enormous hassle; but in Vietnam, we would never admit such blasphemy.

40 plus years later, those Vietnam memories are cherished ones. I remember one very traumatic Christmas in Nam which made all of us sad and mad. The helicopter bringing the Christmas mail in a sling--a type of contraption that literally was swinging under the helicopter--hit some turbulence and the the mail was dropped. Help! Before the soldiers could get to the mail, the Vietnamese had gotten it and were nowhere to be found. Could have been the enemy, but more than likely, the friendlies, local villagers. Regardless, it was very tough to have our mail stolen at Christmas and had the troops been able to get to the ville another MyLai insanity would have been in the offing. More likely than not, the villagers innocently took our mail because it was a target of opportunity, goodies to sell on the black market.

Usually in Nam, there was a stand down, meaning that suddenly the fighting stopped. This always sounded a little crazy to me to stop the war for Christmas. If you can stop a war for Christmas, why don't you just stop

I also remember one very sad casualty during a Christmas stand down. Our FO, forward observer, stepped on a booby trap and was killed. Very sad. He was such a great guy and had a super sense of humor. Tall and handsome, 22, a graduate of St. Bonaventure University. Talk about a wasted life. As poet, Phil Woodall, says, "He may have died in vain, but he lived in honor."

This is such a difficult time for soldiers and their families. Soldiers are still in harm's way in Afghanistan. They, like in Vietnam, are in a misbegotten war.

We now celebrate the One who is the Prince of Peace, a difficult thing to think about during this time; we might use Jesus' words of peace--"peace, peace but there is no peace."

We have to see the bigger picture of Christmas, I believe: the realization that God can and does break through all the turmoil of our world. There is an enormous sadness that envelops those of us who care because of the unthinkable tragedy at Sandy Hook School in New Town, Connecticut. We can't put it down. The loss is too great. The grief is overpowering.

American soldiers who had their lives taken and the Sandy Hook youngsters and adults who had their lives "taken" are alike in this, "they may have died in vain but they lived in honor." And, for me, soldiers who died and the Sandy Hook victims will continue to live in my heart forever.