Merry Christmas to U.S. military people on station and on guard around the world.
I recall being on the USS Kitty Hawk on Christmas in 1970 as the aircraft carrier was on 'Yankee Station,' off the coast of North Vietnam.
Although there was a Christmas truce with the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong, they quickly violated the truce, as they had during past truces. So the carrier "turned to" and launched aircraft to attack aggressive communist forces in Vietnam and Laos.
Although this teenage sailor worked long and hard on Christmas that year, the carrier offered a traditional Christmas dinner that was quite good. I was single then and I was looking forward to our upcoming visits to Olongapo in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan.
But I remember the sailors aboard who were married men with children. They missed their families dearly on Christmas that year.
So my thanks goes out to the sailors, soldiers, airmen and marines who are missing their families this year.
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