A World War II Christmas Story (1 Viewer)

saintmdterps · Dec 24, 2016

One of the benefits of my job as an occupational therapist in a sub-acute rehab/Skilled nursing facility is that I get to work with living history books. These men and women have incredible stories to tell. Mr Smith (not his real name) asked if I wanted to hear about his Christmas in 1945. Of course, I said "Yes Sir" Here is his narrative:

“In 1943 I joined the Army, went to basic and advanced training and in October 1943 I shipped off to North Africa on a converted British refrigerator ship. We sailed from New York City, and as we passed the Statue of Liberty we were served breakfast which consisted of a 10-gallon tin of stewed prunes and pickled herring (good God!).

We landed in North Africa to support the Torch invasion. I was in a construction battalion and so we were always near the action. We moved across North Africa, then to Italy. In May, 1944 we got word we would be taking part in the D-day landings at Omaha. We came ashore in the third wave, so it was D-day itself. We fought our way across France and Germany.

In May, 1945 the Germans quit and we were so glad the war was over. Then we got word we would be headed to the South Pacific, the war there was not over. We were crushed “Haven’t we done enough?” But in August 1945 before we could sail, the Japanese quit.

The US Army, to its credit, was doing everything it could to get us home. I really wanted to be home by Christmas, but it didn’t seem it was going to work out. To my surprise, in mid-December I got my orders; I’d be sailing for home on the Queen Mary (herself a fascinating wartime story). Compared to what we were on when we left, she was a floating palace.

I showed up with 14,000 other men. We were packed in like sardines but no one cared. We were going home! I slept with my head against a bulkhead and I didn’t even mind the vibration. Each turn of the screws took me closer to home. We landed in New York, but I still had to get back to Salisbury. I couldn’t find a phone to call home, or they were all too crowded. Finally, I boarded a bus that would take me home.

Christmas Eve 1945 I arrived in Salisbury. I was the last one on the bus. The bus driver saw my uniform and asked If I was back from Europe. When I said yes, he said “Where do you live? I’ll drop you off at your front door.” I still had not been able to contact my family, so no one knew I was coming home. The bus driver stopped right in front of my house. “Here you are buddy. Merry Christmas!” I thanked him and wished him a Merry Christmas too.

As I stood outside my house which was decorated for Christmas, I finally lost it and started crying. From the looks of the house the family was all there. I walked to front door and let myself in. Everyone just stopped and looked at me. I was not the boy who left for war 2 years ago, but was now a man. My mom came over to me and hugged me. “Merry Christmas” was all we could say. It was wonderful.”

Merry Christmas to all, and especially those who are apart from their families.

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w

unctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w

oNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w

ontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w

ontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]-->

City Champ · Dec 24, 2016

Same thing happened to my buddy when he returned from Iraq, but instead of his family it was just his wife and Jodi. They lived happily ever after, the end...

uproar90 · Dec 24, 2016

Awesome story ... I've been on a WW2 documentary kick lately and have been watching a bunch of these old tales.

My mom's stepfather was in the Pacific and had dark shadows under the skin of his legs due to shrapnel from a grenade.

His stories were always fascinating, but unfortunately he passed away long before I was old enough to truly appreciate them and really remember details.

saintmdterps · Dec 24, 2016

uproar90 said:
Awesome story ... I've been on a WW2 documentary kick lately and have been watching a bunch of these old tales.

My mom's stepfather was in the Pacific and had dark shadows under the skin of his legs due to shrapnel from a grenade.

His stories were always fascinating, but unfortunately he passed away long before I was old enough to truly appreciate them and really remember details.

The cool thing was that this guy is 92 and is sharp as a tack. he remembers everything--the weather, the smells, all of it. I wish I could have just transcribed his story exactly as he told it because it was really fascinating.

When I was in 6th grade I had an older social studies teacher. The last day of school before we all left for Christmas break, he said "We're not having class today. I'd like to tell you about Christmas in 1944"

He told us the entire story of the Battle of the Bulge from his point of view as a sergeant in the heat of the battle. He was absolutely riveting. We all saw the man in entirely different light after that. Another teacher later told us he won a Silver Star for combat valor. True to his rather quiet self-effacing nature he left out the part where he was a hero.

Joe OKC · Dec 25, 2016

Gonna be quick, but learned that the song "I'll be Home for Christmas." Was written and recorded in 1943. It was based on W2 SOLDIERS writing home saying they wanted to be home for Christmas...

It was a huge moral boost... Google it.

DCSaints_Fan · Dec 25, 2016

One minor nitpick - the Torch invasions were in 1942 not 1943 ... By October of 43 the allies had conquered Sicily and were moving up the Italian penisula

saintmdterps · Dec 25, 2016

DCSaints_Fan said:
One minor nitpick - the Torch invasions were in 1942 not 1943 ... By October of 43 the allies had conquered Sicily and were moving up the Italian penisula

Oh, you're right. Maybe my guy isn;t as sharp as I thought. I didn't catch that either so I'm definitely not as sharp as I thought :scratch:

Edit: He did say he landed in North Africa, but he did not say it was part of the Torch landings, that was my assumption. :covri:

A World War II Christmas Story (1 Viewer)

saintmdterps

Falling feels like flying til you hit the ground.

City Champ

HOF 2010

uproar90

Carpathian Warlock

saintmdterps

Falling feels like flying til you hit the ground.

Joe OKC

"Better Days"

DCSaints_Fan

Hall-of-Famer

saintmdterps

Falling feels like flying til you hit the ground.

Users who are viewing this thread

Share this page

Twitter

Forum statistics