NFL
By: Greg Rector
There is no lonelier feeling than being away from friends and family during the holiday season. This experience has happened to a lot of folks for all kinds of reasons. One group that deals with this more often than most though are the men and women serving in the military. In my 15 years with the United States Marine Corps, I would miss 3 holiday seasons. Sure we do everything possible to make due and have things feel as close to being home as possible. The USO will bring us entertainment if you were really lucky it was Bob Hope and the Hollywood stars, packages from home, and all the rest to lessen those feelings but they don’t go away. You love all your brothers and sisters serving with you but no parents, spouses, and especially if you are so blessed no kids make it hard to feel the full holiday experience. Then there’s the location. Christmas in Saudi Arabia? For those from Florida and California not much difference, but for those of us who were used to snow and cold, the whole ambiance was gone of course. Now fortunately for me, I was never in combat on that sacred day. The same can’t be said sadly for many, unfortunately. Often in history, there have been Christmas truces between combatants. I am going to write about two instances where it didn’t happen. Both are from World War Two. One is very personal for me. As many of you know I was born in the U.S. but the rest of my family are Canadians.
Bloody Ortona
Many historians refer to the Italian Campaign as “The Forgotten War” as it takes a backseat to the grand Allied D-Day operation that would take place in 1944 and lead to the second story. In 1943 though the Allies had invaded Italy in part to divert resources away from France. Part of the Allied effort was the men of the 1st Canadian Infantry Regiment (Loyal Edmonton Regiment & Seaforth Highlanders Regiment) who in December 1943 were tasked with taking the Italian coastal city of Ortona, which was being defended by the German 1st Parachute Division one of the most elite units in the German military. The Battle for Ortona would begin on December 20th and finally, end on December 28th. So yes on Christmas Day 1943 there was no truce in place. This battle is known for its ferocity as the fighting was building to building and street by street. The Germans used “booby traps” to slow the Canadian advances and the Canadians used a technique called mouse-holing (You all see how special forces and police departments use flash-bang grenades today?), this was the WWII version. This is where it gets personal for me. My Grandfather Pvt. Angus Rector (KIA March 3rd, 1945), was with the Loyal Edmonton Regiment at Ortona. While I never got to meet him I did meet many who served with him. It was difficult for many of those veterans to ever really feel good again about celebrating Christmas. The Canadians though in the midst of this battle did indeed celebrate Christmas. Troops would be pulled out to have Christmas dinner and then go back to business as it were as evidenced by this picture. The German troops did the same.
Those are men from the Seaforth Highlanders the Canadian infantry troops having their Christmas dinner. A pretty amazing feat considering the conditions. Over those eight awful days, 2,400 Canadian and German soldiers would lose their lives.
Battle of the Bulge
This of course is the far more famous Christmas Day battle. For many of us, we knew of what happened thanks to the 1965 film “Battle of the Bulge” starring Henry Fonda and Telly Savalas among many others. More recently thanks to the storied “Band of Brothers” series from 2001 and the experience of the men of Easy Company (506th Parachute Infantry Regiment 101st Airborne Division,)which aired on HBO in 2001. It was Hitler’s doomed-to-fail effort to stop the Allied advance on the Western front. Another Christmas Day where despite what was going on there was a brief amount of time to have a Christmas meal together.
There have been other Christmas days marred by war, these are just two examples of the spirit of the day being tested to the extreme and it’s why even if not in a combat zone missing being home for the holiday is still never easy for anyone in the military. Makes my experience in 1990 in the Saudi Arabian desert seem not so bad. For us, we did get really lucky it wasn’t Christmas Day, it was Thanksgiving Day and the visit from President George HW Bush. All politics aside when the Commander in Chief visits you on a holiday it’s a moving experience.
Count yourselves fortunate and blessed that you haven’t had to experience Christmas at war. For all those who thanks to this year’s weather are unable to get home, it could be worse, much worse.
