Thursday, December 25, 2008

A True Christmas


Ten years ago I stumbled into a Catholic church on the edge of downtown Houston for midnight mass and loved the place so much that I went back the following Sunday and have been doing so ever since. Ten years ago I measured Christmases based on what gifts I received, but as more time passes I come to realize that the ONE gift at Christmas that actually matters is the one which we celebrate.
       Christmas initially started because the early church wanted distraction from the pagan celebration of the winter solstice. The best way to do this they felt at the time was a mass commemorating the birth of Jesus. It would be called a "Christ Mass". The Christ Mass became a great time in the middle ages, because feudal lords would only give serfs Sundays, Easter and Christmas (as the Christ mass later came to be known) off. 
     Saint Nicolas of Byzantium (on whom Santa Claus is based) started the practice of giving toys to children and noting how mankind should treat one another with dignity and respect all year round and NOT simply at the time of Christmas. Somewhere along the line Christmas ceased to be about Jesus' birth and became a season of rampant commercialism. It became a time to get a new television, toys for the kids and diamonds for the wife. Many who never attend church put up trees and sing carols oblivious to why they do so.
     The Japanese celebrate Christmas. Yes there are Christians in Japan, but the celebration of Christmas has more to do with big department stores than with them. It's merely an excuse to give gifts. As Wednesday December 24th turned into Thursday Christmas morning I found myself celebrating my 10th anniversary at the church I initially wandered into out of sheer curiosity. As I stood there listening to the choir as they embraced me with a Christmas song I felt at one with the true spirit of Christmas.  As long as I can be in the presence of men and women who acknowledge the birth of one whose mission was to sacrifice for the greatest love we can ever know my Christmases shall forever be merry.

Friday, December 12, 2008

The Chosin Few


A Marine Corps field jacket is an interesting piece of clothing. It has a high collar much like the blouse on our dress blue uniform and a very warm liner. It can keep one toasty in relatively cold weather and is therefore indispensable. The problem is it's considered a uniform article and CAN NOT be worn with one's civilian clothes. Because of this while in the corps I bought an old olive drab field jacket which already had USMC on the left breast pocket and simply put patches with "U.S. Marines" Over one pocket and my name over the other.
The powers that be never said I couldn't use the LINER of the field jacket with non uniform articles so it all worked out. Wednesday December 12, 2008 I was in a bank and an older gent noticed my jacket and asked what my MOS was. I told him and he mentioned that he learned more than he ever wanted to know about carrying around a *mortar plate and firing a 50 calibre machine gun than he could ever use in "real life". I knew then and there he was an old school Jarhead and we exchanged handshakes and a *Semper Fi. He then told me that he was in the corps until 1952 and my jaw dropped. He was one of the men we call "The Chosin Few".
"The Chosin Few" (no that's not a misspelling) are the Marines who during the Korean war were ordered to stay put when the Chinese Army in a full on assault attacked the Army and Marines on the 38th parallel in human waves in numbers so large that the Americans LITERALLY ran out of bullets and melted machine gun barrels and did NOTHING to halt the Chinese onslaught. The Army retreated but MacArthur (who incidentally hated the Marine Corps and lobbied to have us disbanded on numerous occasions) ordered the Marines to say put. When all was said and done the Marines were stranded in the Chosin Reservoir (in present day North Korea) low on ammunition and supplies, with large numbers of wounded and surrounded on by North Korean and Chinese forces. One of the Marines in charge laughed and said of the situation "Poor bastards, they have us exactly where we want them."
In one of the FINEST moments in Marine Corps history the Marines fought their way out. Along the way they picked up wounded, supplies, vehicles, food and munitions which the army had abandoned in their hasty retreat and also were able to stop most of the casualties from bleeding to death because the low temperatures had allowed for hypothermia. The Marines made it back to U.N. forces with minimal losses.
There I was standing in front of one of the men who had MADE the Marine Corps history I had read about and was only the third such member of the "Chosin Few" that I've ever met and I can honestly say the experience was humbling. He left me with a smile and another handshake and one of the bank employees walked up to me and asked who the old get was who had impressed me. At that point I told this man of the Chosin reservoir and the expression of admiration on his face mirrored my own. I never got the old gentleman's name, but I'm proud to be part of his fraternity. From a dreadlocked s-bird of a younger jarhead I'm proud to wish you a Semper Fi sir... Where ever you are.

* Mortar is a grounded tube which fires small rockets at an arch to hit targets hundreds of yards away.

* Semper Fi is the shortened form of "Semper Fidelis" The U.S. Marine's moto which is Latin for "Always Faithful" i.e. to God, country and corps.