Captain Wendell “Ray” Alcorn
U.S. Navy (Retired)
On 22 December 1965, on a combat mission over North Vietnam, I was shot down and captured. I spent Christmas on a concrete floor in a North Vietnamese prison, arms tightly bound behind my back. For eight holiday seasons I enjoyed “the humane and lenient treatment of the North Vietnamese people,” according to the interrogator.
Captain Scott Kelly
U.S. Navy (Retired), F-14 pilot, astronaut
Christmas 1999 while in space on my first shuttle mission. One of my crew mates was a French astronaut who brought gourmet French food—foie gras, quail in burgundy wine sauce, etc. No one else liked it, so on Christmas Day a few hours after deploying the Hubble telescope, the two of us floated in darkness above Earth listening to classical music and feasting on French space food.
Corporal Mason Bube
U.S. Marine Corps
I spent Christmas Day 2011 on watch from noon to six at a 15-man outpost in the Sangin Valley, Afghanistan, on the edge of a desert. I sang “American Pie” over and over, loudly, at the locals when they passed by.
Commander William Woityra
William Woitrya—is now a CAPT and the Commanding Officer of the USCGC POLAR STAR
On New Year’s Eve 1999, the heavy icebreaker USCGC Polar Star was parked in the ice of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. We had no email, telephones, internet, or television. Huddled on the ice among the Adélie penguins and Weddell seals, with Mount Erebus smoking on the horizon, 150 shipmates rang in the year 2000. Twenty years later I am back on the same ship as the executive officer!
Major General Ted Hopgood
U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
Christmas 1966, Northern I Corps at the mouth of the Cua Viet River, Vietnam, just south of the DMZ in near constant rain. Daily LCU runs from the Dong Ha combat base supplied lukewarm beer and mail, including Christmas cookies and small presents. We were finally out of the bush and bivouacked on a white sandy beach. Casualties were few, morale was high, and life was good!
Captain Charles H. Gnerlich
U.S. Navy (Retired)
In 1966 I was a new ensign assigned to the USS Kaskaskia (AO-27). The ship anchored off Greece for Christmas. When I was ashore sightseeing, the weather turned bad and liberty boat operations were cancelled. I spent my first Christmas away from family sleeping on the floor of the USO in Piraeus. I send the USO a check every year!
Commander Frank S. Meredith Jr.
U.S. Naval Reserve (Retired)
On 25 December 1955 I was on board the USS Arneb (AKA-56) moored to the ice of Kainan Bay, Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. The ship was offloading equipment and supplies for the construction and establishment of the Little America V base as part of Operation Deep Freeze. Thank goodness for Old Methuselah straight Bourbon whiskey.
Brad Jones
Christmas 1967 and New Year’s Day 1968 on Yankee Station off North Vietnam assigned to Reconnaissance Attack (Heavy) Squadron 11 with Carrier Air Wing 11 on board the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63). Five months earlier, five of our six RA-5C Vigilantes and most maintenance gear were lost in the USS Forrestal (CVA-59) fire.