Christmas in Vietnam by Jim Traner
“In 1967 our unit, 1st Squadron of the 11th Armored Cavalry, was dug in for the Christmas truce. We were in a FSB close to the Cambodian border. I won’t give you my thoughts on truces in a war as I would be banned on FB. One of our guys got a very small artificial tree from his family. I’ve been searching my memory as to the trooper but I’m drawing a blank after 50 years. We had no decorations but we did have some Jiffy Pop, carefully hoarded in our track from a stop in Base Camp a few months earlier. After tearing off a chunk of a brick of C-4 (plastic explosive for you civilians), we lit it and popped the Jiffy Pop. Someone had their sewing kit stashed in their gear and we threaded the popcorn and strung it around the tree. Every Christmas I look at our beautiful tree and remember that pathetic little tree that brought Christmas joy to a bunch of GI’s dug into a mountain top far from home.”
Jim posted this piece describing that little “Charlie Brown” Christmas Tree on Facebook recently and it was also published in the Edmonds Beacon. The photo, of different tree in Vietnam, was posted on Facebook around the same time as Jim’s post by another Vietnam vet.