We Saw His Star: Vietnam Christmas, 1965

"Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.
Matt 2:2

Pop and I were watching Stephen at the Troy University baseball camp last summer on a muggy June evening. I had been reading Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Hal Moore’s book, "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young", and knowing my dad was in the 1st Calvary Division with (then) Col. Moore at the same time, I was itching to hear a story.

"Did you know General Kinnard?" It was a set up question.

General Harry Kinnard was the division commanding general. West point class of 1939, he quickly rose through the ranks during WWII and became Gen. Tony McAuliffe’s operations officer during the Battle of Bastogne (the Bulge). When the Germans demanded a surrender response, Gen. McAuliffe uttered the famous one word response: "NUTS!" It was (then) Lt.Col. Kinnard who suggested the one liner. (The Germans, not well versed in American idioms, responded by asking if that meant yes or no. It was further explained by another assistant, Col. Harper: "If you don’t know what ‘Nuts" means, in plain English it is the same as ‘Go to Hell’.")

Of course my dad knew the commanding general, and began to tell me a story about riding a motorcycle down a runway, and seeing the General, he turned his collar inside out so his Capt. Bars were hidden and zoomed by. Nothing ever came of it, but I am sure the General had a clue who he was.

His favorite Kinnard story, as best as I can recall it, happened in Vietnam, during Pop’s first tour of duty in 1965. I have mentioned the huge transport helicopter he flew, simply called the CH-54 Flying Crane. The General ordered the construction of a huge wooden star, complete with lights that would be placed on top of the mountain that was already embla- zoned with the very recogniz- able 1st Calvary Division patch. I suppose he wanted to give the grunts something to remind them of home and probably to let the mountain town of An Khe know that the American forces had all intentions of celebrating Christmas in Vietnam.

The order to transport the star by helicopter came down through regular channels and the mission was assigned to my dad and another pilot. As they lowered the hook, he noticed something unusual.
"I looked down and noticed that a maintenance tent was bounding end over end across the base camp. Maintenance records were flying everywhere in the wake of the heavy rotor wash," he said laughing as he remembered this incident.
Laughing indeed, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that the crew had the perfect military CYA, "they were on an assigned mission".
The short trip to the top of the mountain resulted in more chuckles for the crew. As they were lowering the star in place, my dad said he looked down again. This time he saw a dilapidated outhouse turning cartwheels down the side of the mountain. A local mountain family was, well, out of luck.

With the star safely in place, a generator kept those lights burning throughout the Christmas season. Even though the maintenance engineers and a few local mountain folks endured a bad day, I can only imagine now how many GI’s were blessed by that wooden star, placed on that mountain by a commanding general who obviously had a heart for his men.

It has been over the course of centuries now that American soldiers have been separated from their families during our holiday seasons. In my readings of military history, I am always intrigued at the ingenuity of soldiers in bringing some amount of home with them wherever they are, along with the acts of kindness that are displayed in the midst of a hellish war.

I recently saw a documentary about Thanksgiving. A WWII vet was interviewed, recalling his GI Joe days in Europe after the D-Day invasion. He reminisced about the Thanksgiving meal, and how those young dog faces were giddy, knowing that they would be served a hot meal of real turkey and dressing.
"Our C. O. sent word that he was encouraging us to bring all the homeless kids in our sector in for the meal, and feed them, in lieu of having the meal ourselves," he stated.
The scene changed, flashing a grainy black and white film, young GI’s in a mess tent, sitting side by side with a bunch of kids, beaming as the youngsters devoured the soldier’s Thanksgiving meals.

The scene returned to the old veteran. His lip began to quiver, his voice cracked, and softly voiced a simple, "it is my greatest Thanks- giving memory."

Soldiers are not politicians. Many opinions exist about America’s past and present wars, however, the men and women of our Armed Forces are told to "go" and they simply answer "Yes Sir". I have specific active duty friends who come to mind frequently, especially at this time of the year. For all who are reading, I am sure that you can think of military families in your own lives. Please take some time to pray for them over our Christmas season. If they are nearby, thank them personally and bless them with your love and support.

There may be some soldier in a far off land staring at a star, thinking of home. Take a moment this evening, stare at a few yourself and think of them...


Mark
Prov 17:22
My dad,
Ah Khe,
Vietnam
Christmas
1965
Camp
Chapel




(all pictures were sent to us as slides back in 1965, with the exception Gen Kinnard's photo)

If you would like to send send a message to the troops, the DOD has set up a message board for them to log on and read. Browsing the messages will be a be a blessing in itself! Thanks to my sister LeeAnn for sending this address to me:

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