Christmas In Iraq And Other Thoughts
Christmas has come to Iraq today. Though I am not able to be home for the usual festivities this year, I am thankful to be defending my country on this fine, special day. Though the temperature has taken a plunge recently, the Lord God has shown his mighty hand this morning by allowing me to gaze at His beautifully pink Christmas sunrise. The peace I felt this morning on my way to breakfast while singing carols to myself is something I can’t describe. Somehow I felt connected to all those who have served on Christmas Day in some foreign country, fighting for the freedoms that Americans cherish today. I felt as if I belonged alongside those who have served and will continue to serve their country in a faraway land during the holidays.
Words cannot describe how I feel to be serving my country at Christmas. I know my family wishes that I could be home around the dinner table with them or unwrapping Christmas presents so lovingly placed under the tree. But I say to my friends and family - I am honored to be in Iraq, doing my part for the glorious cause of liberty. Though I cannot be with you today, know that I too am celebrating Christmas in my own special way. So please don’t worry about me feeling left out of Christmas; nothing could ruin the gratitude that I may be able to serve you this day.
So often with you think of Christmas, you think of brightly colored trees, presents, friends and family, and Christmas dinner. Serving overseas has allowed me to realize that some Christmas Days haven’t been all about traditional festivities or the grand shopping season. Even in 1776, American troops realized Christmas was not just a day to celebrate the birth of Christ, but was a day to fight for liberty:
During the night of December 25, Washington led his troops across the ice-swollen Delaware about 9 miles north of Trenton. The weather was horrendous and the river treacherous. Raging winds combined with snow, sleet and rain to produce almost impossible conditions. To add to the difficulties, a significant number of Washington’s force marched through the snow without shoes.
The next morning they attacked to the south, taking the Hessian garrison by surprise and over-running the town. After fierce fighting, and the loss of their commander, the Hessians surrendered.
The news of the American victory spread rapidly through the colonies reinvigorating the failing spirit of the Revolution. The battle’s outcome also gave Washington and his officers the confidence to mount another campaign. On December 30 they again crossed the Delaware, attacked and won another victory at Trenton on January 2, and then pushed on to Princeton defeating the British there on January 3.
Although not apparent at the time, these battles were a decisive turning point in the Revolution. The victories pulled the languishing Revolution out of the depths of despair, galvanized colonial support, shocked the British and convinced potential allies such as France, Holland and Spain, that the Continental Army was a force to be reckoned with.
Christmas has always been in the hearts and minds of American troops, even during wartime. An article from Time Magazine printed December 25, 1944, provides a proper and familiar prospective on how American troops stationed overseas during WWII celebrated Christmas. Like today’s Operation Iraqi Freedom, American troops had been fighting tyranny and oppression for four Christmases.
Excerpt:
This would be the fourth U.S. wartime Christmas. The first already seemed as if it had been in another decade. On Christmas Eve, 1941, antiaircraft guns were set up in the backyards of West Coast cities. San Antonio’s telephone system was jammed by a rumor—the Jap Fleet was cruising into the Gulf of Mexico. Electric toasters, alarm clocks, nylon stockings were still for sale. There were debutante balls at which orchestras played Blues in the Night. Everywhere, East, West and South, the people waited for air raids. Christmas, they thought, would be just the time the enemy would choose.
But now the air-raid sirens were silent, and the new factories, not yet built in 1941, were begrimed. The early battles at Wake and Manila seemed almost as distant as the Argonne.
Mud, Cold and Death. Christmas, 1944, would find millions of Americans overseas. To front-line troops, Christmas would be another day of mud, cold, death and wounds. There seemed no prospect of the spontaneous Christmas Day truces of World War I. But everywhere, on U.S. war fronts, there would be time for religious services—on the field, in tiny tents and in foreign churches. Sometimes the churches would also be crowded with white-swathed wounded.
In this spirit of the season and on behalf of those who have served and those who continue to serve, thank you all so much for your support. May God bless you and Merry Christmas!