December 23, 2014 at 4:55 p.m.
Not home for the holidays
Not home for the holidays
On Christmas Eve 1944, in a snowy forest in Belgium, Allied forces were locked in a stalemate with German soldiers, fighting what is now known as the Battle of the Bulge.
When the fighting reached a lull late that night, and with a gentle snow falling, American soldiers huddling in the foxholes across the front line heard music drift through the air. The Germans were caroling. Although they didn't know the words to "Stille Nacht," the Americans joined in with the English version, "Silent Night."
There in the frigid forests of Belgium, at least for a moment, there was a semblance of peace.
Since that day in 1944, and on many days before it, an untold number of servicemen and women have spent their holidays stationed around the world, many miles away from home and their loved ones, sometimes putting their lives on the line.
While that reality may not foster the merriest of Christmases, soldiers make due. Brett Foley, a Rhinelander native and former Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Christmas could get lonely, but it also gave his group the opportunity to have some fun with each other.
"It's always kind of a sad day because you obviously wish you were home with your family, but you're not," he said. "The holidays always bring out the shenanigans of service members though. You get care packages too with Santa hats in them, and people share their care packages with each other. Guys joke around on the holidays, and sometimes command staff will put on a little meal or something. Depending where you're at, they'll bring in something like steaks and everyone will try to cook them up."
Hal Berndt, a veteran of World War II, said his fellow sailors were too busy to really feel homesick on Christmas, but he tried to bring a little bit of tradition with him.
"I enlisted when I was 17 and I celebrated my 18th birthday in the North Pacific," he said. "I was on a destroyer escort. During the Christmas season, while I was at sea, the war was over, but we were on patrol assignment, watching what the Russians were doing with their missiles. I was too young to be lonesome or distraught about being away from home. That didn't bother me at all. We really didn't celebrate Christmas because we were out at sea. I intended to celebrate it. My mother sent me a box of cookies. I hid it on the ship, but someone got into them. When I went for my Christmas cookies later, they were gone."
After enlisting in the Army after graduating from Rhinelander High School, Jeremy Miller spent two years deployed in Iraq. He said spending the holidays overseas was obviously not ideal, but the rest of the guys made it a little easier.
"What sticks out the most is that it's Christmastime, you're usually with your family friends and none of us are home," he said. "We only had each other. We put a Christmas tree and made decorations. We celebrated and we tried to bring as much of home back into Christmas.
"When you're over there, you are each other's family, so we tried to celebrate it as much as we could," Foley added. "I remember Christmas Day and the feeling of really wishing to be back home celebrating with my family and my brothers. I wanted to spend the day with them and have a couple beers. It just wasn't possible."
For Miller and his fellow infantrymen, a big part of Christmas in a war zone was making the base feel as much like home as possible. That's where a little Army know-how came in handy.
"We were always making a big deal out of having a white Christmas, so a bunch of us guys bought baby powder for our platoon sergeant," he said. "He's from North Carolina, so he loves his white Christmases. We made a joke and baby powdered all his stuff. We baby powdered the ground outside our tents. We didn't have to worry about rain. That was a lot of baby powder that day."
One year at Foley's base, some of the soldiers managed to pull off a feat that still leaves him scratching his head to this day, but it definitely made the holidays a little easier.
"One time in Afghanistan, they got ahold of a turkey," he said. "I don't know where you get a turkey in Afghanistan, but we kept it as a pet for like a month. It walked around for awhile. It was a big turkey, and eventually they cooked it up for Thanksgiving. I still can't quite figure out where you get a turkey in the middle of Afghanistan though."
Despite the baby powder and an anomaly of a turkey, it's still not the same as a Christmas at home. That's why Foley said communication with family is key.
"It all depends on where you're at," he said. "If you're at a bigger base, a lot of times they'll have Internet centers that are really packed with guys waiting in line to get in and on the computers to talk to their families. If you're at a smaller base, you're lucky if you can maybe get a satellite telephone call. Otherwise, you just have to write letters and correspond that way."
Eventually though, deployments end and soldiers transition back to civilian life. Berndt said his first Christmas home after serving in the South Pacific was one he'll never forget.
"That was a great joy," he said. "My parents had Christmas presents for me that they held for the second Christmas. It was wonderful."
That doesn't mean it's not different though. Both Miller and Foley said they returned different people than when they left. That can make the holidays a struggle.
Miller said his first Christmas after returning from Iraq wasn't easy for him.
"It was hell," he said. "When you're deployed, all you wish is that you could be home. But when you get home, and you have your holidays, it's like you're not really there. You feel this emptiness and loneliness even though you're blessed. Even though you have your family all around you, and you're having egg nog and there's Christmas dinner. You're there physically, but mentally, you're not there anymore."
It's a process that takes plenty of time. Foley said it wasn't that he didn't enjoy his first Christmas back home. In fact, quite the opposite was true. It's just that it almost didn't feel real to him.
"I remember it was very surreal," he said. "I hadn't had a holiday home in a long time because I was usually deployed. It was really nice to sit down with the family and relax. It was really nice to not have any worries. It was a surreal experience just because it was something I wasn't accustomed to anymore. It was nice to have that family time and actually enjoy the holidays instead of it being just another day on the calendar."
Andy Hildebrand may be reached at [email protected].
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