Christmas in the Korean War Zone

To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right." ─ Confucius

Christmas has been celebrated in the war zone throughout American history, by the colonies (partially resulting in the Revolution, because Christmas and mincemeat were illegal for a time), during the Civil War by my great grandfather and his fellow Union soldiers (not much detail about that), in WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korea, the Gulf War, in Iraq and elsewhere. There are many stories in my family about these Christmases.

Christmas in the War Zone can be the most precious.

This is the story of Christmas on the battlefield of the Korean War in 1952 and in the aftermath of 1953. The first is the part of an American in the USAF and the second is of a Korean gentleman in the ROK, Republic of Korea armed forces.

Mr. Charles Nelson of Texas (courtesy of rootsweb.com to enable my fact checking) was living in a tent in Korea in December of 1952, without any winter clothing , bathing in his helmet and having only C rations available for food. A fine Christmas it was not going to be. However, the whole unit looked forward to Christmas dinner with turkey and trimmings flown in from Japan.

A Christmas Eve, help was needed in repairing an aircraft homing beacon at a remote outpost, so Mr. Nelson and another soldier went to fulfill the distress call. Being Air Force, they were able to take extra C rations, Canadian Club Bourbon and cigarettes with them to trade for what they might need at their destination.

When they arrived, they noticed children at the perimeter of the US Army outpost, begging food and none being given. The leader of the post explained that all they could spare had already been given and they were only allowed fresh supplies once a month.

Mr. Nelson and his partner drove to the US Army supply center and traded bourbon for a whole vehicle load of food. They returned to the Army post and everyone there, including the orphans that had been living alone in caves, enjoyed a Christmas dinner and cookies for dessert and presents for the kids. He enjoyed this Christmas with the orphans more than the following one in Korea with a full Christmas celebration,

Mr. Nelson was the oldest person at the party and the ranking officer. He was just 22.

During this same Christmas Day elsewhere in Korea, the young ROK soldier Jhoh was serving an uneventful shift in his small platoon in South Korea. There was no fighting and there was no one in the platoon that celebrated Christmas, so they all forgot about it until that night.

Five U.S. Anti-Aircraft Artillery soldiers invited the ROK man to visit them in their bunker since he could speak some English. They called him Kokomo Joe and he helped translate a little between the GIs and the Korean officers. In the American bunker, Joe saw a Christmas pine decorated with cotton balls and a cardboard star. GI key chains and dog tags were the ornaments. Christmas hung from the ceiling. A simple meal was celebrated with prayers and songs and the GIs gave Joe C-rations for the Korean bunker after he had a picture taken with the Americans.

After the war, Joe wished to attend college in America but needed a sponsor. He wrote to the five Americans. One of their dad's had seen the Christmas picture of Joe and offered to be his sponsor to America.

Joe had been agnostic, but the celebration of Christmas in the war zone resulted in his becoming a Christian. His American friends helped him become a success in America as well.